9 Tips for a Successful Interview

Looking for a new job can be a frustrating experience. Being prepared and ready for an interview help relieve some of the stress in job hunting. Here are 12 tips that can help to ease your interview process:

Tip 1: Obtain detailed information on the company

It is important that you have the full details of the company you are going for interview. Details such as address, telephone number, name of the interviewer or contact person to see. You need to know the exact location of the company or the location where the interview is going to be conducted by the company. If you are not certain about the location, contact the company to find out where exactly the company is located, what are the land marks that can help you to locate it.

Tip 2: Be Punctual

Don't be late because you will give a poor first impression to the interviewers. Always arrive at least 5 to 10 minutes before the interview time. Get to the interview location before the time will help you mentally prepare yourself for the interview.

Tip 3: Dress Code

Your appearance and grooming are important to give a good first impression for the interviewers. Always wear clean and well-ironed light clothes suitable for day wear. Gentlemen should wear a suit and tie. Ladies make up should be light; hair should be neat and tidy. You need to spend some time to coordinate your dress with appropriate accessories so that you feel confident you look your best.

Tip 4: Switch off Pagers and Mobile Phones

Don't let your interview process being interrupted by the incoming rings of mobile phone or beeping sound from your pager. Always turn them off before you go in for the interview.

Tip 5: Presentation of updated CV and Certificates

Always carry with you your updated CV, original certificates and reference letters. Present these documents to your interviewer when he asks to see them. Use a neat folder for easy reference.

Tip 6: Be positive at the interview

Be prepared on the questions that you might be asked during the interview. It is important to work out the information your prospective new employers are looking for. Always be positive even when asked a question that is unexpected. You must listen positively when the interviewer explain to you the duties of the job. Don't afraid to ask questions if you are not clear or would like to know more about the job.

Tip 7: Smile & Maintain Eye Contact

Your body language can tell the interviewer more about you than you realize. It is important to relax and not be tense, to smile and answer the questions confidently. Always look at the eye of the interviewers when you answer their questions and keep your answer clear. Correct body language and a good eye contact with the interviewers will give you a good successful edge.

Tip 8: Ask Questions

Just answering the questions of the interviewers is not enough. Asking sensible questions and showing an interest in the organization indicate to the interviewers your seriousness to the job position.

Tip 9: Thank the Interviewer at the End of Interview

Once the interview session is finished, remember to thank the interviewers for their time. If it is your first interview, the interviewers will indicate to you the possibility of a second interview, check with them when the second interview is likely to be and make a note of the likely date so that you do not forget.

Summary

Getting yourself prepared, look confident and react positive during the interview session are important factors that determine a successful of your interview.

- Julie Harvard

Career Coaching: Seven Mistakes to Avoid When Making a Big Career Change

Are you considering a big change in your career? Do you feel let down, bored, burned out? Maybe you think there is something bigger and more meaningful that you are meant to do. Perhaps your company downsized you into this predicament. Regardless of the reason, there are some common mistakes to avoid while you evaluate and select new career options. Avoid these pitfalls and you can stay motivated, keep your balance and move forward successfully.

Mistake #1 – Making Decisions in Haste

Tempted to just quit and wing it? Everyone is now and then, but unless you just can’t stand your current situation another day, resist! Instead, write down everything you hate about your current situation, then one by one, look at the most intolerable issues and see how you can turn each around to make it more tolerable for the present moment.

It is easy to get so excited about the future that you decide to forge ahead without a plan and hope everything naturally falls your way after that. It will require more energy to sustain your new career and make it work well for you than it will to identify and start it. It is better to come from a place of higher energy and stability than to start out already burned out or worried about how you will pay the bills. Consider seeking the help of a qualified career coach, life coach or career counselor to help you identify your next career path. An objective, trained third party can help you strategize and phase it in for the best results and the least amount of heartache.

Mistake #2 – Ignoring the Finances

“I can’t stand this any longer! I would rather eat dog food than put up with this another day!” Whether you are pursuing a new career voluntarily or involuntarily, you must pay the bills. Do pursue your dream. Do look for the career that brings out the best in you. If you have plenty of savings, good for you! Resist the temptation to go through it and be left without. If you have a dream, by all means hang on to it! But if it won’t realistically get off the ground for three years, find another way to earn a living in the meantime. The need for income is a reality you cannot ignore.

Mistake #3 – Filling Your Head with Negative Stuff

What do you read? What do you view on television or the Internet? With whom do you spend free time? When you’re looking at making big life and career changes, you need lots of positive energy around you. If you spend time with negative people or fill your mind with anything that isn’t useful, guess what? It fills you with negative energy. Instead, surround yourself with people and things that give you positive energy and encouragement. Read books that motivate and encourage you. Go places that inspire you. Do everything you can to be what you want to be like after you land the next great career opportunity , and you will be more likely to attract it into your life!

Mistake #4 – Getting Bogged Down by Decisions

If you’re an intelligent person who has enjoyed any measure of success, chances are there are a lot of different choices you could make in your next big life or career change . Clients often tell me they are overwhelmed by all of the thoughts and ideas that keep running through their minds. And as the overwhelm sets in, it is very easy to just shut down. As we work together, I remind clients when making tough decisions to ask themselves, “Is this going to move me forward?” If the answer is yes, proceed. If the answer is no, either revise the decision or drop it entirely.

Mistake #5 - Not Having a Plan

There are two reasons this is important. First, life is unpredictable and it is dangerous to relinquish security before the next career arrangement is lined up. Second, changing careers is a lot like dating. You are always more desirable when you are unavailable. You are more attractive to a prospective employer if you are already working. And if you have already lost your job either voluntarily or involuntarily, it is even more important to have a plan so that you are then more likely to achieve it. If you see success, you will be successful. (Conversely, if you don't have a plan, how will you know when you've succeeded?)

Mistake #6 - Ending your Preparation Too Soon

All I can say here is, prepare, prepare, prepare. If you’re looking at several possibilities, don’t immediately drop one when another looks good. Think about all of the big tests you have taken in life (college entrance exams, finals, certification exams) and how you prepared for those. Did you study way in advance and take a big, long break before taking the test? Or were you still reading the material as you walked in the door on test day, wondering if you could still be better prepared? When you’re embarking on a new career or life change, give it all of your available energy, skills and attention. If you have a goal in mind, resist relaxing when you think you almost have it. Prepare and stay sharp right up until the day you start. This will help keep you from losing confidence at the last minute.

Mistake #7 – Getting Discouraged Too Easily

Does this happen to you when you face hurdles in the midst of your goal? Instead of giving in to the pain, pay attention to what specifically is making you uncomfortable and make adjustments to get you through. For example, if you're in career transition and you find that it is painful to go through the tedium of making phone calls, sending resumes, going on interviews where the competition is tough, etc., find the formula that gives you a break without stopping the process. Try devoting an hour or two each morning to these tasks and letting it go for the rest of the day, or only making a certain number of phone calls or interview appointments per week so that when you're finished, you can feel good about giving yourself some time off. Don't stop. Adjust.

Remember, a career change is a life change. You didn’t arrive at your current level of education and experience overnight, and don’t be disappointed if you don’t immediately uncover “the thing” you want to do next. Allow yourself time and space to explore and make an educated decision. Get the help you need along the way (i.e., career coach, career counselor) to help you do it strategically, not emotionally. If you avoid these mistakes you are much more likely to end up in a new career that complements and fulfills your life.

Gwen Jewett, Life & Career Coach - About the Author:

Gwen Jewett is a Life and Career Coach and Selfgrowth.com Guide to Career Coaching, living in the Dallas area. After 14 years as Executive Director of a 12,000-member national healthcare association, she voluntarily left to pursue a more balanced life. Since 2001 she has helped many clients make their career and personal life stop working against each other and instead work in complement. www.coachgwen.com

What Human Resource and Hiring Managers Want

One simple fact: employers spend anywhere from ten seconds to two minutes reviewing a single resume. That is a small window for an applicant to make an impression on a piece of paper. So how does a job seeker stand out in a sea of other potential employees? Easy. Know what your hopeful employer will likely be looking at in your resume.

Eighty percent of employers claim that “related experience” is the first place they look. This is the category of a resume which often overshadows scholastic merit. There is a simple explanation for this reasoning. Most jobs are not new jobs but are jobs that have recently become vacant. Employers who are filling these jobs are looking for a candidate who has plenty of experience with the tasks the occupation demands. Hiring an inexperienced job seeker means that an immense amount of training is necessary in order to bring the new hire up to par. This consumes a lot of time and money. With that in mind, selecting a candidate who has related experience is by far the best way for an employer to save the company time and money.

What makes an employer spend ten seconds looking at a resume as opposed to two minutes?
There are a few factors to consider. Let’s outline the obvious first.

Proper spelling and grammar are fundamental. Submitting a resume with improper spelling and sloppy grammar to an employer is the same as wearing t-shirt and jeans to an interview; it creates a bad impression. It demonstrates many ideas to employers, such as: incompetence, laziness, oversight, or a deficit in professionalism. A good resume is only two pages, try to focus and spell everything properly for that short pagination.

Aesthetics is another aspect to consider. Resumes which utilize interesting fonts truly capture a reader’s attention. Obviously getting carried away with it is the wrong maneuver, but the point is apparent. Effective resumes look good. They are neat, orderly and are not a strain on the eyes. Getting enticing qualifications on the page is an essential ingredient, but aesthetics gets your resume the attention it deserves. And since your prospective employer will likely be handling thousands of resumes to fill only a few positions, it is only polite to keep the aesthetics gentle on a reader’s eyes.

Brevity is the primary focus for employers. General consensus reveals that employers prefer resumes to be two pages in length. If your resume is four pages in length then you probably need to cut some information which is likely superfluous anyway. We already know that employers are immediately looking for “related experience,” so why bother truncating your resume with schools, interests, and accomplishments. These elements are important, but they don’t need to be developed to such an extent that the length of your resume becomes an eye sore for employers. An employer won’t lose sleep over the hundreds of resumes which were discarded on semantics such as spelling errors or long windedness.

In respect to “related experience,” any location you have lent several years to warrants mentioning, but if you have spent two years or less with a company you might want to omit their names from your resume. It is true that with the insertion of the “millenials” (a new generation of work force who seem to be tilting the scales in the job market’s demand) into the job market that employers are becoming more lax with their interpretation of how much time spent with a company qualifies as loyalty. Statistics still show that anything more than two years demonstrates a job seekers loyalty. Anything less creates the opposite conclusion.

So You Want to Be a Freelance Project Manager

Maybe you've always wanted to work for yourself or you are just looking for a change of occupation. Perhaps you were recently laid off and see freelancer as an opportunity to continue your career. Regardless of your reasons, there are 3 points every project manager should consider before engaging as a freelancer.

I recently heard someone on the radio talk about the 3 points. I'm sorry that I can't recall his name, but he stated that, "Every business needs 3 things, someone to find the work, someone to mind the work, and someone to grind the work."

These points were so important that I had to write them. Let's take a moment and discuss each of the points to see how they apply to a freelance project manager.

Find the Work

Every business needs someone to find the work. Actually this role of finding the work is essentially a dual role with responsibilities in marketing and sales. As the marketing manager, this person is responsible to identify and describe the services to be provided by the freelancer, that is, to create any marketing collateral including brochures, advertizing, whitepapers, and fliers that will be used by the sales role to identify and secure new business.

In the sales role, this person will beat the streets looking for the next job. Typically this includes prospecting, qualifying, and selling the services to new or existing clients. Selling services can be time consuming; consider the time spent on phone calls, in-person meetings, writing proposals, responding to RFPs, and negotiating contracts. All of these activities are resource intensive, non-productive, and expensive when you consider your time, the cost to travel to client sites, and luncheon meetings.

Mind the Work

Every business needs someone to mind the work. This sounds like the business manager to me. In this role, the business manager is responsible to run the office, answer the phone, manage the contracts, invoice for work completed, manage accounts receivable, pay the office expenses, and make sure the payroll is ready on-time. In a small office, the business manager also creates and manages the business budgets, forecasts sales, manages contract milestones and deliveries.

Grind the Work

Every business needs someone to grind the work. This is the role that actually does work that will be invoiced to provide the funds required to run the business and make the payroll. It's a full time job to perform the contracted services within schedule, under budget, while achieving the quality of service expected by the client.

A freelance project manager is a one-person show. The freelancer must fulfill all 3 roles to run a successful one-person business. The freelance project manager must somehow balance the needs to find and mind the work while still having time to grind out the work. The freelancer who focus on project delivery, but doesn't make the time to look for the next contract will soon be out of business. Likewise, the freelancer who finds a job and focuses on delivery without remembering to invoice will also soon be out of business.

In summary, you may be a great project manager, but freelancing requires sales and business skills to run the business. Make sure you cover your bases before embarking on your new career.

By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP About the Author: Ray Myers, Jr. is a PMP certified project manager with over 20 years experience planning and managing technology projects.

Identifying And Making The Most Of Your Transferable Skills

Many times, when we're applying for jobs, we think about how our skills relate specifically to the position we desire. There's no doubt that it's important to show that you already have experience and qualify for the position you want. However, if you're trying to switch careers, you may not have this luxury.

How then do you still apply for a position that you have little or no prior experience doing? You can identify your transferable skills, or those skills that would be valuable to an employer even if those skills are not directly related to the job you're seeking. Here are some ways to identify and make the most of them those skills.

Think of Your Favorite Accomplishments

Most likely, when you're thinking of switching careers, you're moving toward something you would love to do versus something you think you have to do. This is why it's a good idea to think of your favorite accomplishments as you seek your transferable skills. What are you good at doing that simultaneously makes you happy?

Are you a master organizer whose organizational skills changed the face of a company? Did you give a speech at a non-profit in your spare time that touched the lives of numerous children? Whatever you're really good at that makes you happy should be your centerpiece when identifying your transferable skills because you'll be openly passionate about it as you approach employers in your new field or industry.

Pinpoint Skills for Each Position You Apply For

What you'll probably notice as you identify transferable skills and try to apply them to different positions is that varying skills will deem themselves relevant. For instance, if you're a former travel agent and you've decided that you want to become a writer, you might find that one of your transferable skills may be travel, especially if you apply for travel writing positions. In other words, while you may not have extensive writing experience, noting your knowledge of the world-at-large may work in your favor.

On the other hand, you might be able to apply for the same travel writing position, having been a waitress, if you highlight your extensive list of personal travels throughout your life along with your passion for keeping a vivid, well-written journal. While this transferable skill isn't professional per se, it may be help you get the job. One of your duties when identifying your transferable skills is to determine exactly what the employer is looking for to help you determine just what you can offer them as an employee, so keep this in mind as you apply.

It may seem somewhat intimidating to try to apply for a job when it seems that you have no direct experience relevant to the position. However, many employers will take strides to train you when once you're hired whether you have relevant experience or not. So don't let a lack of experience deter you from pursuing your dream. If you can exhibit a basic understanding of the position by highlighting your transferable skills, you may just surprise yourself by being hired for the very position you desire.

Heather Eagar is a former professional resume writer and is passionate about providing working professionals with current, reliable and effective job search tools and information.

Build a career portfolio to highlight your accomplishments

By Douglas E. Welch, Tech Republic

Gathering evidence of your day-to-day successes on the help desk can help you promote your career. Take the advice of one contributor and build a career portfolio to showcase your recognitions and achievements.

Conventional wisdom says that to have a good career, whether manning the help desk or sitting in a call center, it is best to keep your head down and not make waves. Although I would question whether this was ever wise, in today's economy, it is almost a sure way to end up at the unemployment office.

If you want to have a long and satisfying technology career, you need to ensure that you get the recognition you deserve. Then, you need to develop a career portfolio to highlight your successes. When performance reviews, layoffs, and promotions come around, you will be well positioned and prepared for anything that comes your way.

Make your name known
To build recognition in your company, one of your first actions should be to take credit for the work you do. Have you produced a report for your manager or upper management executives? Did you recently solve a major problem that can help all of your clients? Did you create a program that reduces purchasing time by 50 percent? Did you make sure to include your name, phone number, and e-mail on the report or in the program? Your name doesn't have to be in 72-point type or flash on the screen every 15 seconds, but it should be there.

Do you have a corporate-wide information system to help you and your peers manage the help desk? Are you entering your most important calls and solutions into this system? If so, be sure that the system clearly marks the origin of the information and how to contact you with further questions. Not only are you being a good coworker by sharing your information, but people will learn that you are also a great source of information in the future.

Take pride in your work
I once had an art coach who explained to me the importance of signing your work, regardless of whether you thought of yourself as an artist. Signing your work demonstrates a certain amount of pride in your work and shows that you find it important and worthwhile. If you don't take your work seriously, why should anyone else?

Of course, the importance of taking credit for your work goes far beyond personal satisfaction. First, it gives readers or users a place to call if they have questions about the report or program or any of the assumptions used in creating it. Second, it places your name in front of people who might otherwise never see it. As a tech worker, it's easy to become anonymous within your own company. You are either locked away in the call center all day, away from other workers, or, if you do on-site support, you appear, do your magic, and then disappear. Taking credit for your work is one way to avoid this trap.

Make sure callers know your name and how to contact you directly, if your company allows this. Leave your business card or other leave-behind material with each user you assist. Let users know that they can contact you directly, if needed. Do everything you can to personalise your service so that your users know who is directly responsible for helping them.

Take on special projects
Another way to raise your profile is to take on special projects such as organising a technology open house, brown bag lunch training sessions, or other events for your department. To produce such events, you will need to work with colleagues in your own and other departments, again making your name known outside your own department.

Taking a role in promoting your own career can be particularly important when the layoff specter raises its ugly head. Managers always find it more difficult to downsize those people they know wellâ€"especially those who've played an active role in the company. Standing above the crowd may help you survive the tough times that can occur in any company.

Keep track of the praise you receive
If you have worked in support for any length of time, you have probably received the occasional kudos from your manager or clients. You need to make an effort to actively collect these examples of praise.

Did you recently recover a collection of files for the accounting department, make a recalcitrant printer function, or install new software for an entire business unit? If people have offered verbal praise to you, gently ask them if they would mind putting their praise in an e-mail or memo to you and your manager. If you spent longer on the phone than normal to solve a particularly nasty problem, ask the client whether they might e-mail a note to your supervisor. It never hurts to ask, and in most cases, you will find that these happy people are more than willing to comply.

As you build your technology career, it is also important to request letters of recommendation from anyone who appreciates your work, not just your immediate supervisors or managers. Collect these letters as soon as possible after a particularly good experience so that it is fresh in the person's mind. Letters of recommendation are extremely important since they show significant appreciation for your work. These people are making the ultimate gesture by putting their reputation on the line for you, and almost everyone will recognise the strength of these personal recommendations.

Build a career portfolio
Once you've started collecting this material, you need a place to store it so you can make use of it in the future. You might think that portfolios are the domain of artists, but everyone should have a career portfolio that can be used in a variety of situations.

If you are currently employed, your career portfolio will be a fine companion during your regular performance reviews. Nothing is more impressive than being able to cite specific examples of the good work you have done, including personal notes of praise from those involved. You can also include past performance evaluations in your portfolio, so that you can demonstrate how you have achieved the goals you created with your manager during your last meeting. You should document any projects you are working on and their current status. This allows you to easily lay out a comprehensive overview of your work during the previous year. Performance reviews can be one of the most stressful professional events, but your career portfolio will go a long way toward alleviating this stress.

Your portfolio can be even more important if you are looking, or thinking of looking, for a new job. Everyone should be prepared for a job search at any time. Companies rise and fall. Technologies come and go. You never know when you may find yourself looking for a new or better position. A well-maintained portfolio will help you make a good impression on interviewers.

Keep your portfolio up to date, as you never know when you might need it. You might even want to develop several copies of the portfolio if you are engaged in talks with several companies. This will allow you to leave your portfolio with the interviewer to share with others.

Along with your resume, include copies of letters of recommendation and the more informal examples of praise mentioned above. You might also want to include descriptions of important projects, difficult support situations and their solutions, and anything else that helps to convey the nature of your work.

Most importantly, you should always be on the lookout for good stories about your career. Perhaps there was the troublesome employee you were able to convert into one of your best users. Maybe you developed an ad hoc system that helped a particular department be more productive without additional budget. Putting these stories in writing can help you to better present them in an interview situation.

It's up to you
The most important thing for you to remember is this: No one is going to swoop down and pull you out the anonymity of your help desk or call center cubicle. It is up to you to develop and promote your own career, document your success (and good failure) stories, and build your career portfolio. You are the only person who is truly interested in promoting your work. It is up to you to honk your own horn, stand above the crowd, and get the recognition you deserve.

Top Interview Mistakes

I love job interviews - JUST KIDDING. Do you ever wonder if people who say they like job interviews are a little crazy? Who really likes them? Apparently some people. Whether you like to interview or not, chances are you might have to given the nature of Britain's economy.

Your performance on a job interview will obviously determine whether or not you get hired. Many of us leave interviews feeling like we did amazing and then never get the job. Why is this? It could be that someone better came along. Or, it might be that we did fine in the interview, however, we made common mistakes that ultimately ruined our chances at getting the job. What are these mistakes? And, how can you avoid doing them so you can ensure that you are chosen for the job instead of the other candidates?

One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to a job interview is "going with the flow." It is natural to assume that since you are not in control of the questions that you are not in control of the interview. This, however, is just not true. When you go with the flow, you often lose your chance to address important topics. Make sure that you know ahead of time what you want to tell the prospective employers. Then, during the interviews, use the questions to get those points across.

Also, when you are in an interview it is only natural that you will get to ask a few questions. The old saying, "there is no stupid questions," does not apply here. Do not ask the person interviewing you if they like their job. What if they hate it? You will obviously make them uncomfortable. Instead, ask insightful questions that pertain to the job.

Next, avoid the negative. You are trying to sell yourself in an interview. Paint yourself as positively as possible. Figure out how to answer each question to make you look better. And, if something comes up that you cannot answer or do not understand, use that to your advantage. Discuss your willingness to learn and your work ethic. Good companies are full of individuals who work hard and are willing to learn from each other.

Remember - be positive. There is nothing worse than someone who is negative or unsure of his or her abilities. Stay optimistic and the right job will be just around the corner!


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