Interview Take-Along Checklist

You’re interviewing for a job tomorrow, and you think you've done all the interview preparation you need to do. You’ve practiced your answers to a multitude of common interview questions and have thought up some questions to ask the interviewer. Your interview suit is pressed and ready. But what do you bring to the interview?

We’ve created this handy checklist, with the help of Monster Interview Expert Marky Stein, so you won’t forget a thing.

Interview Checklist Items for Your Briefcase

• Your Resume and Job/Professional References: But don’t just throw these crucial documents in your bag. According to Stein, linguists and psychologists have found that 93 percent of all communication is nonverbal. How you present this information says a lot about you.
  
  To that end, Stein recommends you buy an inexpensive two-pocket folder in blue, since this color appeals to both men and women and conveys a business feel. On the left side, place your resume, and on the right, your letters of recommendation and list of references. When you get to the interview, say, “I wanted to bring an extra copy of my resume -- here it is,” and open the folder, turning it around for the interviewer to read.
  
  “This is a sign you are open and honest as well as organized,” Stein says. “The more you show you are prepared, the more you are showing respect.”
   
• Pad and Pen: Taking a few notes during your interview (while being careful not to stare at your notepad the whole time) is another sign of respect. “It makes them feel you are listening,” Stein explains.
   
• Business Card: People either take in information visually, audibly or through touch. “The more you give them to touch, the more real it seems to them,” she says.
   
• Directions: “These lower your anxiety,” Stein says, adding that it’s preferable to drive to your interview location in advance and park so you can see how long the journey takes.
   
• Cellphone: You can always leave this bit of modern life in your car, but if you must take it with you, make sure it stays turned off and in your briefcase; it’s a huge sign of disrespect to be interrupted during an interview or give the appearance you’ll be interrupted. “If you’re a man, don’t even wear it on your belt,” Stein recommends. “Keep it hidden.”

The Intangibles

• Company Research: In almost every interview, you’ll be asked what you know about the company, Stein says. To prepare for this question, she recommends Hoovers.com. You can also check out companies on Monster.
   
• A Smile: It may sound sappy, but this nonverbal clue is an immediate rapport-builder. Interviewers are often nervous, too. “In one-sixteenth of a second, we assess whether someone will harm, help or hurt us,” Stein says. “(A smile) immediately tells someone that you’re not going to hurt them.”  

Read More

Don't Talk Too Much

The gift of gab can be something of a curse during an interview. You could end up talking your way right out of the job.

It's important to remember that interviewers are only human, and their attention tends to wane as you speak. Fully understanding this is critical to effectively communicating during any interview. Your response should be less than a minute and a half when an interviewer asks you to "tell me about yourself." Why? You'll have that interviewer's attention for just about 90 seconds.

The average interviewer's attention span looks something like this:

• As you begin speaking, the interviewer is listening with nearly full attention.
• After about 10 seconds, he begins listening with less intensity.
• After 60 seconds, his mind begins to wander and he's devoting less than half his attention to you. The interviewer starts asking questions about your response or begins formulating his next interview question.
• After you've been speaking for 90 seconds without interruption, the interviewer is barely listening at all.

An interviewer's attention level can be nearly impossible to detect, because most people are skilled at nodding their heads and saying "hmmm" while looking at you, all in an effort to disguise their wandering minds. The longer you speak without interruption, the less attention the listener is giving you. Hence, when you provide a long interview answer that builds to an important conclusion, often the interviewer is no longer listening. This is particularly important when you respond to an interviewer's request to tell him about yourself, because there is just so much you can say on the subject, and you can't be sure what part of your background the interviewer is most interested in learning about.

Your Questions Are Key

Near the end of your response, it's important to keep the interviewer engaged by asking good questions.

Skilled interviewers will pose behavioral interview questions, asking you to describe specific examples of your experience. In these situations, your response can easily last much longer than 90 seconds. In such situations, interrupt yourself by asking the interviewer a question like, "Is this the level of detail you are looking for?" or "Is this the type of example you're interested in?" This strategy helps to reengage your listener and promotes two-way communication.

According to Kent Kirch, the global director of recruiting at Deloitte, interviewers are more impressed with your questions than any selling points you try to make. "What's really disappointing to an interviewer is at the end of an interview and I ask the candidate, ‘Do you have any questions I can answer for you?' and he says, ‘Nope, I think you answered them all,' and that's the end of it; it's just really frustrating," he says. "It all goes back to preparation, and [your questions tell] the interviewer you thought about this interview before you walked in the door."

Asking questions can also give you a strategic edge. "People love to talk about themselves," says Austin Cooke, the global recruitment director at Sapient. "So if you as a candidate can kind of get interviewers talking about themselves, you're one step up."

Your interview goals are to ensure you are understood and to make the best presentation of your talents. Engaging interviewers in two-way communication by asking questions helps you ensure they are listening while you deliver your response.

Read More

Make a Great First Impression

Job Interview Tips

Like many career advice experts, Steve Fogarty, staffing partner at Waggener Edstrom, says candidates should research a company thoroughly before an interview. And if the company is a private firm, that's not an excuse to skip doing your homework.

Where there's a will, there's a way, and finding a way to gather information on a company "distinguishes the great candidates from the good candidates," says Fogarty.

Consider Fogarty's company, a large independent public relations agency. He says that if someone were trying to find out about Waggener Edstrom, the candidate could take a number of steps. In addition to simply visiting the company's Web site, joining a trade organization like the Public Relations Society of America would almost certainly give someone interested in his company exposure to people who work there.

Fogarty offers a less conventional method as well: "People might be able to find a press release that one of our PR people has written and contact that person and say, ‘I saw your press release. It looks really good. Would you be open to me asking a few questions? I'm doing research on your company.' That's a way to get information."

What else can you do to improve your chances at the interview? Try these tips from Fogarty:

Be Concise

Interviewees rambling on is one of the most common interview blunders Fogarty sees. "You really have to listen to the question, and answer the question, and answer it concisely," he says. "So many people can't get this basic thing down. You ask them a question, and they go off on a tangent. They might think you want to hear what they're saying, but they didn't answer your question."

Provide Examples

It's one thing to say you can do something; it's another to give examples of things you have done. "Come with a toolbox of examples of the work you've done," advises Fogarty. "You should come and anticipate the questions a recruiter's going to ask based on the requirement of the role. Think of recent strong strategic examples of work you've done, then when the question is asked, answer with specifics, not in generalities. You should say, ‘Yes, I've done that before. Here's an example of a time I did that…,' and then come back and ask the recruiter, ‘Did that answer your question?'"

Be Honest

Somehow, candidates get the impression that a good technique is to dance around difficult interview questions. "If you don't have a skill, just state it. Don't try to cover it up by talking and giving examples that aren't relevant. You're much better off saying you don't have that skill but perhaps you do have some related skills, and you're happy to tell them about that if they like."

Keep Your Guard Up

According to Fogarty, you can split recruiters into two schools. There are those who are very straight-laced and serious, and candidates had better take the process seriously as well when dealing with them.

"Then you have recruiters like me," he says, chuckling. "I'm going to be that candidate's best friend when they call me. My technique is to put them at ease, because I want them to tell me everything, and a lot of candidates mess up in this area. They start to think, ‘Oh, this guy is cool. I can tell him anything.' And then they cross the line." And that can take a candidate out of contention. Remember: Always maintain your professionalism.

Ask Great Questions

Another of Fogarty's interview tips is to come ready with good questions to ask. He says nothing impresses him more than a really good question that not only shows you've researched the company in general, but also the specific job you're hoping to land in particular. "That makes me go, ‘Wow, this person has really done their homework. They not only know the company, but they know the role.'"

Read More

A Good Interview Impression Is in the Details

As political candidates answer endless variations of the same questions in pursuit of elected office, we can't help but be reminded of our own often-torturous experiences on job interviews.

If, like the candidates, we could review our performances on tape, what might we see?

Watch and Listen to Yourself

"Verbal fillers are the No. 1 problem," says Randy Bitting, cofounder of InterviewStream, a Web-based service that gives job seekers the chance to tape and watch themselves in mock interviews.

"People are so used to texting and emailing in short phrases that they can get stuck putting together a few complete sentences," he observes. "It's better to opt for silence while you gather your thoughts, especially if you're nervous."

Of course, nervousness can also generate overtalking. "We have a bar running along the bottom of the screen as you're being recorded to mark the passage of time," Bitting says. "We strongly suggest that respondents limit their answers to two minutes, at most."

Watching yourself on tape is also a good way to monitor things like dress -- too much cleavage, too-short cuffs -- and gestures, Bitting adds. "People don't realize how many times they scratch their heads or flip their ties."

Maintain a Conversation

Mastering the art of presentation goes hand in hand with carefully packaging the content of what you want to get across. "The key idea is to remember that an interview is a two-way conversation designed to determine if there's a mutual fit," says Rob Sullivan, a Chicago-based career coach and author of Getting Your Foot in the Door When You Haven't a Leg to Stand On.

A good formula, Sullivan continues, has you doing most of the talking for the first two-thirds of that conversation, and then ceding the floor to the interviewer. "That's your chance to ask lots of questions, which people tend to forget to do," he says.

Assemble a list of talking points and make sure you get through them, adds Sullivan. "If you realize that this person's asked you one standard question after the next -- what's your greatest weakness? where do you see yourself in the next five years? -- look at your watch and say, 'I notice we're running out of time. There are a few things that I'd like to share with you. Is that OK?'  Make their job easier for them."

Have Your Story Ready

It's at this point that you dazzle with your "story," as Sullivan calls it. That's different from the "elevator pitch," the 30-second encapsulation of who you are. "Your story is not about your sales records or your business-generating prowess," Sullivan says.

Instead, ask yourself what's excited you in your career, what you've done on your own initiative and what's energized you. What stories can you relay that show your passion, initiative and resourcefulness?

"If you think about what's better because you were there, like in the movie It's A Wonderful Life, you'll come up with some compelling anecdotes and you'll stand out," Sullivan says.

Skip the Scents

Just make sure the impression you leave is a good one. "It can't be said enough, but skip the perfume," Sullivan adds. "This is not a date, and a lot of people are extremely sensitive to smell. If you give me a migraine headache, I'm not going to remember a word you said, and I'm not going to like you." 

Read More

What Your Words Say About You in Interviews

If you were under the impression that cramming for the SATs was the last time you'd ever have to worry about vocabulary, you're mistaken. In interviews, the words you use are often viewed as related to your level of education and general aptitude.

Whether you're applying for your first postcollege job or trying to break into the executive ranks, it may be your vocabulary -- the subject you first encountered somewhere back around third grade -- that seals your fate.

Why Vocabulary Matters

"I think it's one of the major reasons why an individual gets hired or not," says Tom Defillipo, a 15-year veteran of a recruiting business that places IT candidates. "Very often, clients will ask us to qualify people on their ability to communicate verbally."

This doesn't mean you should try to grandstand by using fancy words for the mere sake of demonstrating your intelligence. "Some people use highbrow, academic vocabulary words, where you have to almost build a sentence around the word," says Greg Ragland, cofounder of Executive Vocabulary. "Then a lot of people give you a blank stare when you use it, and you have to explain what it means. That's not going to get you anywhere. You can be called out really easily if you use a word you're not comfortable using. You have to be really comfortable using a word and feel comfortable other people will understand it."

Improve Your Vocabulary

Ragland suggests focusing on "power words." He and his partner spent years compiling a list of power words they had heard executives use effectively during meetings. Ragland says there are many powerful expressions and words people have in their passive vocabularies, or the pool of words people know and understand but tend not to actually use themselves. He suggests trying to make the leap to incorporating these words into your active vocabulary -- words you can use comfortably and confidently.

"If you're using words that are in most people's passive vocabularies or can be understood when used in context by most business professionals, people will take note of the word and be impressed," says Ragland. He says the intellectual imprint you make on an interviewer through your vocabulary happens both on a conscious and subliminal level.

Ragland suggests that when job seekers are prepping for an interview, they should "look at words they think will describe their experience or their desire for the job and find ways to lace them into anecdotes about their past experience, schooling or whatever value they're going to bring to the position."

Ted Corcoran, former president of Toastmasters International, agrees a person's vocabulary serves as an informal barometer of that person's intelligence. "Certainly, the more educated you are, the better constructed the sentence, the more descriptive the words you use, the less verbal crutches you use, like ‘like', ‘you know' and ‘um,'" he says.

"People with a wide range of words can find the right word at the right time," Corcoran says. "And they can more succinctly make their arguments. There's nothing worse than people trying to explain something and not finding the words or the grammar to do it."

Read More

Tactics for Handling a Panel Interview

By Carole Martin, Monster Contributing Writer and Kathryn Troutman, Monster Federal Career Coach 

There you sit alone in front of the room, waiting for the assembled strangers to attack you with interview questions. It's really not quite that bad. In fact, there is an upside to panel interviews. You'd probably have to talk to each of these people individually at some point in the process -- this way, you get it over all at once. 

Panel -- or board -- interviews are often characterized by a standard set of questions for all applicants. Typically formal and organized, this interview format is often used in academia and government or for high-level executives. Occasionally, you’ll encounter a panel interview for other positions in a company. 

Interview Preparation: Don’t Be Ambushed 

Find out what type of interview you can expect. The recruiter setting up your job interview can probably give you an idea ahead of time. If you have the opportunity, ask how long the interview will be and who will be on the panel? You can better tailor your answers when you understand the interview conditions. 

And remember -- no matter how uncomfortable the interview situation -- you are there as a professional to learn just as much about them as they are eager to learn about you. 

Different Perspectives, Same Purpose 

How do you deal with so many interviewers in one sitting? The best way is to take them one at a time. The board or panel is not one entity, but several individuals coming together with the common goal of hiring the best candidate for the job. At the same time, each person has his own agenda or department's interest at heart. 

For example, the HR manager will be checking to make sure you are a good fit with the culture and people working at the company. The hiring manager will want to know about your technical skills or business know-how. And the person from accounting will want to know if you are savvy enough to operate a business budget. 

What to Expect from the Panel 

You may be asked to speak about instances when you demonstrated particular behaviors or skills that are key to performing your desired job. This form of interviewing, known as a behavioral interview, relies on the premise that past performance is the best indicator of future behavior. 

Always be prepared to provide a sort of elevator pitch -- a brief summary of who you are and your career goals. This message can include your overall mission, top-level skills and interests, but not a recitation of your life’s history. Be ready to share your concise message at the beginning or end of the interview. 

Practicing for the interview with a video or audio recorder is extremely helpful. The best interview answers include examples that are compelling, on-target and spoken with interest and some enthusiasm. When speaking, don’t hesitate to lean forward. Check your posture at a table and lean forward to demonstrate interest in the position. Remember to look at each person who asks the question, and then shift your eye contact to the other members of the interviewing team. 

Lastly, make sure you get each person's business card, hopefully at the beginning of the interview, so you can address each person by name and follow up with individual thank-you notes afterwards. 

Team Interviews 

Another multiple-type interview is the team or "good cop/bad cop" interview. The team is usually made up of two interviewers, one who asks the questions and one who takes notes. The two typically trade roles, which can be confusing if they have different styles. Keep in mind that these inquisitors are working together toward the same end, so treat them equally. 

Although these interviews can be stressful, interview practice and preparation can pay off. When you rehearse your answers and your physical presentation beforehand, you will feel more confident no matter how many people you have to face.  

Read More

Visualize Interview Success

Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Michael Phelps employed visualization and relaxation techniques before his races. Golf superstar Tiger Woods incorporates visualization into his pre-swing routine. And Phil Jackson, the legendary former head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, implored his players to visualize victory before games.

So if your career goal is a better job, visualizing your interviews in advance could be worth trying.

The Power of Positive Thoughts

Many of us have visualized worst-case interview scenarios. It's not unheard of for people to have nightmares about upcoming interviews. According to Lynn Joseph, vice president of Parachute, an outplacement company in Point Richmond, Virginia, that power can be harnessed in a positive direction to get what you want from an interview. [Note: The author is also employed by Parachute.]

Athletes, entertainers and salespeople have been using visualization for decades. Now job seekers are using this technique as well.

The Journal of Consulting Psychology outlined an experimental study of visualization techniques. One group of job seekers received traditional career counseling and interview coaching. Those in the second group were exposed to the same career counseling and interview training, but these job seekers also learned to use visualization techniques related to these subjects.

Two months after the training, 21 percent of those in the group who did not use mental imagery found new jobs. But 66 percent of those who used this technique were employed within two months.

Train Your Mind

What distinguishes good visualization techniques from a passing daydream is that you purposefully program your mind to visualize only the positive things you want to happen. Follow these steps to seize the power of your imagination and program yourself for a successful interview:

• Lie down comfortably in a quiet room. Close your eyes, and use each breath to relax your body from head to toe.
   
• Imagine yourself preparing for the interview on the morning it will take place. When you visualize getting to the employer's office, use your senses to imagine the colors, light, shadows and objects in the room. In your mind, hear the interviewer's voice when he greets you. Notice your emotions are calm and confident as you shake hands.
   
• When you meet the interviewer, imagine you are smiling warmly, and he is smiling back at you. As the interviewer begins to ask questions, imagine you answer them spontaneously and easily. You feel confident and comfortable. Ideally, at the end of the interview, you might imagine hearing the interviewer say something like "You're hired" or "Welcome aboard!"

The more you use your imagination in this way, the better you'll get at effective visualization.

Make Visualization Work for You

Cynthia, a financial analyst who was terrified of interviews, started using mental imagery to prepare herself for them. "Before I used the imagery, I felt like a scared puppy," she told me. "Now I feel like a lion." Cynthia got a job with a higher salary than she had imagined.

Brenda, a triathlete who used to cross the finish line in about the 20th percentile, now says, "If I practice visualizing a ‘win' for about a week before the race, I'm ensured a third or even second place." Even the NFL's San Francisco 49ers and the US Olympic gymnastic teams make mental imagery a compulsory part of their training programs.

You have nothing to lose by trying this technique for succeeding at job interviews -- and you might just find it works. Imagine that.

Read More

Focus on Your Strengths

What do you have to offer an employer? Why should that employer choose you over someone else? What will make interviewers remember you after they're done with their first round of meeting potential candidates?

It's about matching their problems and needs with your qualifications, skills and traits. Your mission is to convince interviewers that you are the solution they've been seeking.

Make Your Case

Concentrating on your five best strengths will help you focus during the interview and will make it easier for them to remember you. You can begin before the interview by identifying your five key strengths and matching them up with the job requirements. Once you've done that, determine ways to bring up these matches during the interview.

Susan Croce Kelly of Kirkpatrick International in Houston is a communication specialist who writes speeches for executives. She advises telling your audience what you are going to say early in your presentation and then repeating your points throughout. “It is not unusual for people to say ‘What a wonderful speech,' and then five minutes later can't remember what it was about,” says Kelly. “If they remember two ideas from a speech, that is scoring high. Repetition is really important, because they might miss it the first time. Keep going back to the main point.”

You can actually use the speech model to prepare your presentation. Think of ways to present your key qualities throughout the interview. For example, let's say you're interviewing for a position that requires strong organizational skills.

The first interview question the interviewer asks is, "Tell me about yourself.” Part of your answer should include a statement about your organizational skills. “One of my key strengths is being organized. If you were to ask my coworkers, they would tell you I am the ultimate planner.”

Later in the interview, you could repeat your strength in a story format: “One project I worked on was very complex and detailed. It required a lot of forethought and planning on my part. I was able to do this using Microsoft Project software for tracking and scheduling.”

The interviewer asks, "“Why should we hire you?” Your interview answer should repeat information about being organized. “From what I have heard throughout the interview, it sounds like you're looking for someone to come in and bring order to projects here. Since I am known for my organizational skills, I know I would be a real asset.”

By the time you leave the interview, the interviewer should have a strong sense that you're a very organized person. Since this is important for the job, you will probably receive serious consideration as the solution to the company's problem.

What Are Your Strong Points?

Identifying your five strengths and matching them to the job is an important step in preparing for your interview. Read through the description and identify the key factors needed to do the job. Be sure to read between the lines. For example:

• Will interact with accounting, engineering and manufacturing departments.

What will it take to perform this task? What kind of person is this company looking for?

It will require good communication and interpersonal skills, and the ability to interface with a diverse group of people and levels. If these are your areas of strength, focus on letting the interviewer know that you have the ability and experience to interface well with many different groups.

Like the speechwriter, you want your audience to remember the important points you have made. By concentrating on a handful of strengths, you will find that you are more focused and succinct about telling what you have to offer. More importantly, the folks you meet are more likely to remember you for your strengths.

Read More

Five Tips to Ace Your IT Interview

IT recruiting has evolved tremendously over the last decade. As organizations have become more IT-friendly, clients are expecting the same in return. Because IT providers now rely heavily on providing quality service, they need a staff who can accommodate these evolving -- and demanding -- needs. To prepare for an upcoming IT interview, be sure to keep these five IT interview tips in mind.

1. Be an IT Softie

Soft skills are valued in today's workforce, regardless of your job. Your future boss wants to make sure she can trust you to interact well with peers, suppliers and, most importantly, clients. Employers are becoming more willing to invest in a well-spoken junior resource who can be trained rather than a guru who does not communicate well.

To wit: Be friendly, stay natural and show how awesome you are. Many candidates are understandably nervous and assume more rigid personas during interviews. Don’t. You have a personality -- use it! Always remember, if hiring managers are taking the time to meet with you, they want to like you. It is in their interest. Let them.

2. Be Honest About Your Knowledge

A necessary evil of applying for an IT job is the technical interview. This is an often a harrowing affair in which there is often a very defined answer to a question. You either know the answer or you don't, so be honest if you don't. Nothing makes an interviewer more uncomfortable than a candidate taking wild guesses when answering interview questions. Doing so will make you sound and feel insecure, and will surely impact the tone of the meeting.

Be honest and say that you don’t know while suggesting how you would go about finding the answer. This will demonstrate your ability to solve problems and think critically. If you’re caught in a 50-50 proposition, argue both sides to illustrate the merit of each. Your interviewer is not necessarily looking for the right answer; he is looking to see how you would go about arriving at an answer. This helps keep the momentum on your side and will keep the interview on stronger ground.

3. Steer the Conversation

This is a universal interview tactic: Try to keep the conversation focused on your strengths. In fact, go one step further. If you’re applying for a Unix system administrator position and you have, say, experience managing Active Directory, it does not hurt to discuss it.

An IT-oriented organization is always looking for multiskilled talent who can fill in knowledge gaps. Stating your cross-platform skills could put you in the running for other career opportunities you don’t know about at that company.

Keep in mind that companies hate turning away a multitalented candidate, unless of course the candidate has an irritating personality.

4. Be Enthusiastic with Your Enthusiasm

Interviewers love enthusiastic candidates. If you come across as confident and positive, your interviewer will be more at ease and more likely to want to engage you. In addition to your technical aptitude and personality, an interviewer wants to make sure you’ll be happy if you’re offered the position. Feel free to ask about training programs and professional IT certification as a means of showing a passion for learning and advancement.

Also, mention some positive, nonwork-related attributes that will assure the interviewer that you’ll want to join her team. For instance, if you live close to the office, mention what a pleasure the commute will be. Interviewing candidates costs organizations time and money, so they want to make sure they get it right. Graduating from candidate to employee has as much to do with enthusiasm as aptitude and experience.

5. Get Your Geek On

When in the throes of a technical discussion, discuss your personal interests and opinions on the topics at hand. You’re in a room with like-minded people so they will naturally be interested in discussing mutually interesting topics. Take advantage! This probably doesn’t happen nearly as often as you’d like, right?

If you’re asked about the merits of MySQL partitioning, discuss your experiences with, say, MongoDB sharding and why it did or did not succeed. This will help you develop a rapport with the interviewer quickly.

Interviews don’t need to be uncomfortable, nerve-wracking episodes in your career. If you’re still nervous, remember that the interviewer wants the meeting to succeed as much as you do. Do your best to be positive and engaging so the interviewer can get a good sense of who you are and how you’ll fit into the job and the company.

Read More

Prep for Your Administrative Assistant Interview

At many companies, administrative assistants often wear more hats than a hat rack. They're experts in office software and online research; they track and organize their managers’ projects and schedules; and they diplomatically represent their bosses at all levels of the corporate hierarchy.   

Because an admin’s duties are so wide-ranging, expect interview questions for an administrative assistant job to be wide-ranging as well. In particular, anticipate being quizzed about both your technical and interpersonal skills. Here's a guide to help you get ready for your next admin interview.

Hard-Skills Interview Questions

Good administrative assistant interview questions delve into where and how you applied certain hard skills, says Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam, a Menlo Park, California, temporary staffing firm. For example:

• You list Microsoft Excel on your resume. What's the latest version you've used?
• Have you used Macs or PCs?
• Give me examples of the things you've done with Excel. Have you started a spreadsheet from scratch and created formulas or entered data into an existing spreadsheet? How often did you export Excel into PowerPoint graphics?

If you’ll be managing travel, expect questions along these lines: 

• What is your proficiency with travel coordination?
• Have you coordinated domestic travel? International travel?
• What visa issues have you encountered, and how did you solve those problems?
• Were you responsible for processing expense reports? How were they completed?

Soft-Skills Interview Questions
How you answer the technical interview questions will tell the hiring manager whether you’re capable of performing the work. But to uncover how you’ll perform those tasks, expect questions about your soft skills as well.

Lynn Taylor, author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job, says a great interview question is:

• How would your former bosses describe your ability to manage them?

Make sure your answer highlights your value-added abilities, such as a can-do attitude, organizational abilities, time management and creating a positive impression for the manager, Taylor says.

Soft-skills questions may be tailored to the specifics of the job, says job interview coach Pamela Skillings, author of Escape from Corporate America: A Practical Guide to Creating the Career of Your Dreams.

For instance, if you’ll be working for multiple people, expect questions about time management:

• How do you handle stress and deadlines?
• Tell me about a time when you had to prioritize a heavy workload. How did you approach it?
• When have you had to communicate with a client or senior manager on behalf of your boss?
• Who was the most challenging customer -- internal or external -- and how did you satisfy that person?

If the job will involve project management, expect questions similar to these:

• Describe a complex organizational project that you managed recently.
• What is the most interesting project you have worked on?
• How have you used calendar management in past positions? How many calendars have you managed?

Also expect questions about your relationship with previous bosses:

• Describe your relationship with your current or most recent manager.
• What would have made you stay at your last job?
• What qualities do you consider most important in an administrative professional?
• How do you prefer to communicate?

Finally, be ready to discuss your preferences with regard to corporate culture:

• Describe the working environment you're looking for.
• In what type of office environment do you thrive?
• What was the corporate culture at your last job?

The company is looking for someone who wants to work in an office setting similar to its own. Someone who prefers working on a team will die of boredom in a small law firm with three attorneys who are out most of the day. Someone who likes to work in a quiet office with the door closed will suffer in an open office with constant interruptions.

Go One Step Beyond

One general administrative/support interview question you should expect is: 

• Do you feel your experience as an administrative assistant has gone beyond the scope of pure administration? How?

Your answer to this interview question gives you the chance to discuss other skills you can bring to the job, such as office management, team building, bookkeeping and phone screening. Have a strong answer ready, and you'll have a good chance of sealing the deal on the job.

Read More

Signs You’re Failing Your Interview: Interviewer Body Language Secrets

You may already know that interviewers pick up on your body language and may even base their hiring decisions on it to some extent. But nonverbal communication goes both ways. Hiring managers also give subtle, unconscious signals that they’re interested in you -- or, in many cases, are losing interest.  

Here are some subtle signs that you may be headed for the reject pile, and how your words and gestures could turn things in your favor: 

Signs: Stops taking notes; looks repeatedly at clock or watch; dramatically picks up the pace of questioning.
Message: “I’m bored by you.”

“It’s fine to stop and say, ‘I have a question for you, if you don’t mind,’” body language expert, corporate trainer and commentator Susan Constantine tells Monster.com. “And when you do this, pause and change inflection to get their attention. You can also use hand gestures when talking to add emphasis and punctuate points of interest.” 

Signs: Folds arms across chest; flares nostrils; shifts shoulder or feet toward the exit. 
Message: “I’m offended.” 

The only way to mitigate an unintentionally offensive gaffe is to address it directly, experts say. Ask whether you’ve said something impolite or offensive, and apologize. 

Signs: A momentary smirk; raised eyebrows.
Message: “I disagree, or I don’t believe you.”

If you think your comments are meeting resistance, it’s OK to address that directly, says Ronald Riggio, PhD, a professor of leadership and organizational psychology at Claremont McKenna College. “You can be straightforward and politely say, ‘I get the sense that you don’t agree with what I’m saying. Is there anything I can clarify for you?’” 

Sign: Reads your resume through the whole interview. 
Message: “I’d rather be anywhere else.” 

This one might not be your fault. Some people are just bad interviewers, or they don’t like questioning job seekers. Still, you might be able to save the interview. Be direct and change the dynamic, Riggio says. “You can say, ‘What can I tell you about my background that will help you realize that I'm a very good fit for this job?"

You can also avoid the nose-in-the-paper problem by putting your resume in the center of the desk instead of handing it directly to the interviewer, Constantine suggests. 

When You’re Winning

Experts agree that several signs indicate the interview is going well. In these cases, the interviewer will:

• Nod or tilt her head forward, indicating agreement, interest or at least that she’s paying attention.
• Mirror your body language, such as by crossing his hands when you cross your legs.
• Offer positive verbal responses, such as repeating similar phrases.

Look at All the Signs
It’s important not to take any one negative or positive sign out of context, according to Mark Bowden, author of Winning Body Language.

“There are no foolproof signs to tell exactly what an interviewer is thinking,” Bowden says. “Use nonverbal cues as a guide or an indication, but don't jump to firm conclusions. For example, if their pace increases and they cut answers short, it could mean that they have lost interest, or it could mean they are simply running short on time.” 

Constantine recommends sharpening your eye for cues by noticing an interviewer’s “baseline behaviors” before you make an assumption about him. “What is the interviewer doing right off the bat? It’s possible that he or she always fidgets or scowls, and that may have nothing to do with you,” she says.

Read More

Response Strategies for Interview Questions

Every interview question thrown your way presents an opportunity for you to make your case for why you're the best person for the position. You want to highlight your positive qualities and avoid giving reasons to disqualify you. That said, think about your overall response strategy for the interview. 

Examples Speak Volumes

For each quality you present, make sure you're prepared to describe a situation where you demonstrated that quality. Basically, you always want to be able to back up any claims you might make. For example, if during the interview you say that you work well under pressure, be ready to describe an example where you did work effectively under pressure and delivered the results required.

Steer the Interview Your Way

One thing to guard against is getting lured into the interviewer's game of alternative or trick questions. Be like a politician. The next time you watch a debate or press conference, notice the kind of questions reporters ask, and then observe how the politician responds. Politicians often answer questions indirectly by presenting information they want to convey. You can do the exact same thing in a job interview.

For example, if the interviewer asks if you prefer to work alone or on a team, he may be trying to get you to say you are one way or the other. But you don't have to play this game. The reality is that most jobs require us to work both independently and in teams. Your response to this question should show that you have been successful in both situations.

Your answers also need to provide the reason to hire you, and you want to avoid providing reasons not to hire you. Before responding to any interview question, take your time, breathe and think about your answer. Thoughtful answers delivered clearly are much better than empty answers given rapidly. And you're not being measured by your response time.

Be Clear and Concise

Be honest and succinct with your responses. Tell the truth in as positive a manner as possible, and don't discuss things or events in a negative fashion. Long answers are less effective than concise responses and tend to make interviewers suspicious. If you are talking more than 90 seconds without interaction with the interviewer, you may be providing more detail than is needed. If you feel you may be talking too long, just stop and ask the interviewer a question like, “Am I giving you the level of detail you're looking for?” This prompts a response and promotes an open exchange of information. Besides, if you're putting the interviewer to sleep with your long-winded answers, asking a question will wake them up.

Open the Conversation

After your response, ask the interviewer a tag-on question, such as, “Does that give you what you were looking for?” This ensures you are understood accurately, conveys that you want to be sure you're providing what the interviewer is looking for and promotes two-way communication.

You deserve the best, so practice your responses to frequently asked interview questions, and prepare to be your best when it matters most.

Read More

Tips to Prepare for Your Insurance Sales Interview

Selling insurance can earn you a substantial income, and if you grow a big customer base, renewal commissions let you build wealth over your career. But how can you optimize your chances of getting into the insurance industry, or of making a move to a more profitable position? Careful preparation for the interview is the key.    

These days, many insurance companies conduct behavioral interviews for insurance sales jobs and independent contractor agents. “We’re trying to get in touch with competencies or behaviors that are part of a track record for success,” says Dan Strubberg, director of agency recruiting for State Farm Insurance. 

“If you’re going to sell insurance, you need to communicate the benefit of it and the need for it,” says Paul Powers, a management psychologist. “To establish rapport, instead of starting with life insurance, for example, you talk about protecting your family in the worst of circumstances.” 

Beyond these basics, what can you do to make the most of your insurance sales interview? Here are nine top tips. 

1. Brush Up on the Industry 

“Go to competitors’ sites and learn what kinds of trends are going on in the industry,” says Michael Neece, an interview expert and chief strategy officer at Pongo Software LLC. “What are the drivers that will be influencing the market over the next 18 months?” 

Says Powers: “Your knowledge indicates your competence and interest.” 

2. Prepare to Sell Yourself in a Minute 

“Create the 60-second sell,” says Robin Ryan, author of 60 Seconds and You’re Hired. “Take your five best selling points and link them together in a couple of sentences.” 

3. Talk About Your Selling Prowess 

“How you can bring in sales -- that will be the main focus of the interview,” says Linda Matias, author of How to Say It: Job Interviews. 

Professionals coming from functional areas other than direct sales should talk about how they can excel at selling. “Candidates should talk about why they’re suited for sales [and] why they would thrive in that environment,” Strubberg says. 

4. Be Ready for the Tough Questions 
Salespeople often have checkered careers, so they need to be able to talk confidently about their work history. “Prepare answers in advance,” Ryan says. “Anyone can improve their interview if they write out answers to questions like, ‘Have you ever been fired?’” 

5. Find Out What You’ll Be Doing All Day 

How much time will you spend in the office? Paying calls on clients and prospects? Filling out paperwork? Working late? Now’s the time to find out. “Ask what is a typical day in the life of an insurance sales executive at this particular company,” Neece says. 

6. Show You Know How to Learn 

Insurance products are complex and changeable. In addition to demonstrating a basic knowledge of your prospective employer’s business, you need to convince the interviewer that as a new hire, you’ll be able to drink from the proverbial fire hose. “The interviewer will be looking for trainability,” Matias says. 

7. Come with Questions that Transcend the Obvious 

Show that you’ve thought about this career opportunity enough to ask questions that go a step further than your rivals’. “The questions you ask have two potential benefits: You can communicate information about yourself, and you can gather the data needed to decide on a job offer,” Powers says. For example, “ask about turnover rate, the types of people who are most successful in the job, training, technology support and actuarial support.” 

8. Zip Your Lip on Money Until Late in the Game 

“You really have no leverage to talk about compensation until someone wants to hire you,” Neece says. In any case, there’s usually not much an insurer will do to sweeten the deal beyond its standard salary-and-commission structure, at least for staff-level sales positions. “The hiring manager has very little leeway, maybe $1,000 or $2,000, up or down.” 

9. But Do Ask the Interviewer to Get Real about Compensation 

Don’t be satisfied with broad claims to the effect that the sky’s the limit. “Ask what their top earner makes and their bottom earner,” Ryan says. “How many of their salespeople earn less than $100,000?”

Read More