Tag: career advice

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Job Interview Questions for Foster Family Supervising Social Worker

How to Pass a Job Interview for Social Worker on the Fostering Team. 

Social workers work with fostered children to support them through difficult times and ensure that vulnerable children are safeguarded from harm.

A social worker will provide support to the child and foster parents often working closely with multiple agencies. While working as part of a multiagency team, a social worker will at all times maintain professional relationships with service users, acting as advocates and referring agents as well as offering advice and support themselves.

Social workers on the fostering team will constantly assess the suitability of the placement and will need to use their professional judgment to make tough decisions that might not always be well-received by all service users.

All social workers follow a framework of legislation and procedures.

The job interveiw questions asked during a social worker job interview will be based on these job duties, with the expectation that the applicant can provide relevant examples that show they have the level of competence and confidence for this demanding job role. 

job interview coaching

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker: Fostering Team.

 

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 1. Tell me about your experience as a social worker, including your key achievements?

All social workers will have experience as part of the social worker qualification includes work placements. The skill, in the job interview, is making the experience gained from work placement or time served in the industry relevant to the ‘fostering’ team. 

Therefore it is important to understand the barriers facing you people who have been fostered. This awareness needs to be the centerpiece of the interview answer. 

In addition, the applicants ‘passion’ for the job role also increases likeability which influences the employers hiring decision. 

The answer can be split into 3 stages:

  • Industry experience
  • Relevance 
  • Passion

Industry experience. “For the past 20 years, I have worked as…..” Interviewees can also make reference to any qualifications or specialisms in this sector “…holding a qualification in X allowed to specialized in Y…”

Relevance. “…in X position I was responsible for (add social care/foster supervising duties and good practice that was created by yourself)

Passion.  “…I applied for this role because I have always cared for (add the reason you are passionate about this role)

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 2. Do you have any direct experience working in fostering?

In the opening interview question, applicants should have referenced their fostering experience and expertise. 

When asked directly to highlight foster family supervision experience, the interview can give detailed and specific examples. 

Initially, start with a generic opening line;

“While working on X project, I had a caseload of 18 fostering families….”

Before moving on to a specific example that highlights the qualities required for a social worker supering fostering families;

“…while working with one foster parent (state problem) happened, to solve this issue I (add actions and outcome).

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 3. What has been your biggest disappointment?

The ‘disappointment’ questions vary slightly from the ‘what are your weaknesses‘ interview questions, as the disappointment doesn’t need to me about the applicant’s areas of development.

Instead, the ‘disappointment’ can be associated with your passion for the role.

“The biggest disappointment for me is the number of young people needing to be fostered…” this ‘disappointment’ can then be reframed to highlight an applicants sector knowledge and experience: “…one way to solve this issue would be to (add solution)”

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 4. How would you manage a large casseroled?

All social workers have large caseloads. Therefore a key skill is caseload management. 

Caseload management is, in reality, time management and organisational skills. Employers, don’t prefer one strategy over another, what they are keen to learn is if the interviewee is organised enough to stay on top of their workload. 

In the interveiw answer, applicants can discuss:

  • diary management
  • to-do list
  • completing easy/quick task first
  • prioritization 
  • delegation 
  • cooperation

The list is endless. What will win you extra points on the interview scorecard is explaining the ‘time management matrix’ The time management matrix, in short, is a management tool that puts tasks into 1 of 4 boxes based on the level of urgency vs their level of importance. 

Interviewers always score applicants high who can discuss a model and give an example of using the model in a work-related situation. 

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 5. How do you put professional boundaries in place?

As an experienced social worker, the ‘boundaries‘ question should be second nature. Still, employers ask this question as safeguarding the young people is a priority. 

When answering technical interview questions don’t fall into the ‘competency’ trap and give an overriding answer. Instead breakdown the process you use to ensure the interviewer knows your level of expertise. 

Explain:

  • how you separate your work and professional life
  • that you never give out personal contact details or accept of a young person as a friend on social media
  • when you would report a young person behavior to a line manager
  • the process you use to maintain confidentiality 
  • how you would handle a situation if a young person wanted to give you a hug, as an example

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 6. Explain your understanding of safeguarding?

As part of the interview answer, it’s important to discuss some of the safeguarding policies, processes and procedures.

  • Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
  • Preventing harm to children’s health or development
  • Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
  • Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.
  • Protecting children from abuse and harm.
  • Early help
  • Child in need 

Don’t just list safeguarding related topics, instead list a few and then give a real-life safeguarding example

Explain

  • The situation – what gave you concern over a child’s welfare?
  • Actions – what step did you take, who did you report the issue to?
  • Outcome – what was the positive outcome of your intervention? 

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 7. How do you go about matching service users to foster families?

This question is the crux of the job. When answering a question about matching young people with families, give a detailed explanation, but, to make it easy for the interviewer to follow break this down into three steps

Step 1 – getting to know the young person. Do they have siblings that they need to stay with? Does where they study impact on the placement? Do their cultural beliefs impact on a suitable placement?

Step 2 – meeting the foster family. Does the young person feel comfortable? Is there any safeguarding issues? Is the family home an approved foster placement? Does the foster parent have the right skills to support the young person? 

Step 3 – does the young person like the placement? Young people don’t always get a say when being put in a placement, but as part of the process, the social worker must check the young person’s thoughts about the placement. 

train as a life coach

 

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 8. How do you work with clients you dislike?

A social worker will meet people they don’t like. An example of this is working with a family where an adult is abusive. 

The opening answer can quantify the applicants ‘professionalism’ “I don’t view people in terms of I like or dislike them, I am there to help families and to safeguard the young person…” before giving an example of working with someone who has disclosed an act that is viewed as negative “…when working with a family who had a violent adult (give more detail)…I would meet with the adult remaining professional (give additional details)..”

It is also good to mention ‘unconscious bias‘ and how this affects personal opinions. 

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 9. You are often working in this role without supervision, how would you handle this way of working?

Self-management is a key skill of a social worker. 

Interveiwers, here, are looking for an applicant’ss process to complete all social work duties without needing mico-management. 

Initially explain the common duties required to be completed each week, follow this up by explaining diary management techniques. More importantly, though, is explaining yoru motivational strategy. What makes you get up in the morning? Why do you need to ensure that all tasks are completed? How you meet your deadlines? 

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 10. What do you think of recent government legislation that affects social care processes?

Government legislation can change the way social workers can support families. As new governments come into power, new legislation can emerge. From a management point of view, employers are wanting to hire social workers that can if needed, adapt their working practice to mee the new way of working, without personal opinions distracting them from their daily tasks. 

When answering the question, state a new piece of government legislation  (as this shows the applicant’s level of knowledge) and explain how you had to adapt business-as-usual tasks and duties to comply with the regulations.

First state the regulation and potential barrier:

“when ‘early help’ came in to play, we knew that the additional collaborative meetings would eat into the time required to be with the young people…”

Second, referenced how you adapted:

“…to make time for these additional meetings I…..”

Thirdly, give the outcome mentioning what you personally did to make the legislation work;

“…the meetings actually saved time. Instead of having to attend multiple meetings throughout the week all the professionals could discuss numerous cases in one meeting…”

Interview Test

 

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 11. How would you handle a situation when a client fancied you?

There will be many variations to this question ‘what would you do if a young person asked to be your friend on Facebook?’ 

If the stated situation has previously happened, using a story to explain the station and the actions that were taken, is by far the best way to answer this tricky interview question. 

What employers are looking to hear is that you follow protocol; Did you report the situation? How did you say no, while being professional, to the young person? What did you add to the case notes? 

Job Interview Questions for Supervising Social Worker Fostering 12. Do you have any questions for me?

There are many types of questions that applicants can ask the interviewer, but for a social work position, the questions you ask can be job-related to help, you the applicant, decide if you want to take the offered position?

  • What is the size of the average caseload? 
  • What is the biggest barrier in the area in terms of placing young people with foster families? 
  • Which agencies do you collaborate with?
  • Is funding likely to increase or decrease over the next few years?
  • What development opportunities do you have for a new member of staff?
  • What is the average week like for a social worker in the fostering team? 

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How to Build a Solid Career in Business Finance as a Lease Administrator

Start a Career in Business Finance as a Lease Administrator

For the business or finance graduate acquiring a degree is only the beginning. You need to look at the diverse career options open to you. You need to evaluate the job scenario and understand which industrial sectors have the most potential for new professionals.

The finance industry is known to be multi-faceted and offers a wide spectrum of positions. Financial services boast of a number of sub-industries covering niche opportunities. The best way of locating a dream career in business finance is by doing adequate research and finally, locating the job that is truly compatible with your interests and skills.

Business finance implies management of money and assets and is fundamental and critical to any organization. The primary objective of business finance is increasing profits and minimizing financial risks and concerns. Business finance encompasses a multitude of varied occupations. Lease financing and lease administration is something that is catching the fancies of many and is pretty much in demand.

Lease Administration Job Role 

Lease Administration generally involves, but not restricted to receiving rents from properties owned and paying rent for leased properties. Lease administration is fundamental to accounting, legal and administrative requirements usually relating to real estate portfolios.

Job responsibilities of lease administrators would include accounting and processing, lease review and abstracting, lease audits, lease renewal options, CAM charges, repairs and maintenance, occupancy cost analysis, management and reporting, operating expense review and document maintenance and storage.

Once a lease agreement is signed, lease administrators are in charge of managing and monitoring rental payments, coordinating tenant alterations if any, and handling lease amendments whenever necessary.

Relevant Career Information

A lease administrator oversees and tracks the leases of various rented facilities in the company’s portfolio. He is responsible for following the leases of various financial transactions including rents, renewals, sublease payments, property expenses and taxes.

Lease administrators are responsible for processing the leases for ensuring that all information is logged onto a precise database, filled properly and most importantly accurate. Lease administrator needs to oversee and ensure that billings as well as all financial transactions are actually being managed properly and on time. They are required to inform the concerned people regarding late payments or missing payments.

Educational Qualifications Required for a Lease Administrator 

Most employers are looking for lease administrators having at least a bachelor’s degree in business, or finance, or accounting from any reputed and accredited university or college. However, it would really be an added advantage if a candidate completed his master’s degree in any one of the relevant streams or had a substantial experience and exposure in the real-estate sector.

Those aspiring for a career in lease financing and administration should start preparing themselves from school itself. They should concentrate on finance, business administration, communications, real estate, and accounting right from school days.

Job Skills 

Lease administrators should possess excellent computer skills. They should have a sound knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets, the Internet and the database software. The aspiring candidate should be well-organized. He should possess a keen eye for detail.

Lease administrators should have exceptional communication and interpersonal skills. They should be able to communicate clearly, identify any problems and effectively resolve issues and potential conflicts.

Career Outlook

As per the information revealed by the U.S. BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) job opportunities for real estate, properties, as well as, community association administrators, including lease administrators, have been projected to grow roughly at a slower-than-avg. rate of 6 percent from the year 2010 to the year 2020.

It is reported that actually these managers received a median wage of $67,541 and the salary would usually range from $57,170 to $88,675.

Author Bio

Mathew Hasselhoff is a certified career counselor, attached to a renowned consulting firm in the USA. He enjoys blogging immensely. 

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Interview Question “Have You Ever Been Asked To Leave a Job?”

Interview Question “Have You Ever Been Asked To Leave a Job?”

This can be really scary if you have been asked to leave a position.

Don’t be tempted to lie in the job interview as the interviewer, once they find out you have lied, they can ask you to leave the company.

The trick to passing job interviews is to predict the interview question and to prepare a killer interview answer.

Set Up Your Own Coaching Business 

Have You Ever Been Asked to Leave a Job?

Keep the answer brief, stay away from the negatives and if you can state how long ago this situation was and how it had nothing to do with your work ethic.

Example Interview Answer

“Once, several years ago, I had just left university and had started a part-time job. The role didn’t suit me, as I like to keep busy. I think the manager knew I was ready to move on so we both agreed I would go”

Interview Video Tutorial – have you ever been asked to leave a job?

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5 Unbelievably Simple Ways To Sharpen Your Soft Skills & Advance Your Career

You have recently passed out from a prestigious institute with an excellent grade in all your subjects. You have all the knowledge you got from books and you can’t wait to put it to good use.

Unfortunately, that prestigious institute did not teach you the major soft skills which are mandatory in every profession. If you lack these skills, then you might as well burn your degree as it would be of no use if you do not possess certain qualities that helps you move forward in your career. Take a look at the following five soft skills which you need to learn on your own: 

Be A Good Listener

Be a good and attentive listener. If you are working in a company and a client will come to you with a problem, then he is not going to use the same fancy terms as you. He will explain it in his own way. You need to be patient, and carefully evaluate what the person is trying to say and then wait for him to finish before asking questions. Empathizing with your customers is also a great way to earn their respect.

Communication In An Understandable Way

You will meet many types of people all working in different fields every day. You must practice expressing yourself in such a way that everyone in the audience will be able to understand and comprehend.

Avoid using a complicated vocabulary or rarely used abbreviations which can lead to confusion and eventually a disinterest from the person listening to you. Keep it simple and understandable, as there is no need to complicate even the simplest things in life just to sound intellectual.

Adaptive Nature

Adaptive nature means your will to accept change in life. The trouble working with older people is their inability to accept the fact that the world is changing and they should change with it; they prefer the old ways of getting things done. Sadly, you do not have that leverage. Keep yourself up–to–date with all the new techs and new software that the company introduces and utilize it in your work. The key to success is to go with the flow and adapt well to what the world presents to you.

Spread Your Knowledge

One of the best ways to remember something that you have recently learned is by volunteering to teach or explain it to a junior or a colleague; you can also write articles about it and send it to the expert assignment writing service in UK. When you spread your knowledge, you not only clear you concepts but also hone your communication skills. 

Critical Thinking

You will be judged by your capability to think on your feet. Major industries do not have the time and sources to waste while waiting around for some productive solution. As soon as a problem arises, kick start your brain and evaluate all the possible scenarios and predict the outcome of each one. After coming up with a reasonable suggestion, do not hesitate to share it with your boss in the fear of getting rejected. Your job is to come up with unlimited positive ideas and this is what matters the most to advance in your career.

You do not have to literally burn your degree but these skills go hand in hand with everything that was taught to you in class. With these skills, you might be able to land a job and prove yourself a resourceful person but it is also your education that will help you excel in career.

About Author:

Eileen Burton is a media and advertising consultant with years of leadership experience in her $500 Gucci bag. When not consulting, she loves to immerse in her favorite activity, i.e., blogging on leadership and entrepreneur topics.

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Have You Thought of a Career as an Energy Efficiency Advocate?

As our natural resources are getting fast depleted with time, there are major concerns about energy conservation and energy saving.

You should aim at energy efficiency for savings at home, city, businesses, and state as well as federal governments on a much larger scale.

You can pursue a career as an Energy Efficiency Advocate in an energy saving company as you would get tremendous job satisfaction.

Job Description of an Energy Efficiency Advocate

Energy Efficiency Advocate needs to secure federal policies for promoting energy efficiency in appliances and buildings.

Statistics reveal that the building sector is responsible for almost 40 per cent of yearly greenhouse gas emissions in the USA. So, the energy efficiency advocate is expected to play a vital role in shaping the federal policies that would cut down the emissions thereby reshaping the economy.

They are also, responsible for setting up and implementing carbon pollution standards especially in power plants.

Job Responsibilities of an Energy Efficiency Advocate

Your job responsibilities are promoting the adoption and implementation of the strongest ever cost-effective appliance energy saving methods and efficiency standards; as well as the procedures and methods of tests followed by the US Department of Energy.

This may include taking part in public hearings, and technical workshops, participate in stakeholder negotiations, drafting public comments and participating in other types of advocacy activities and efforts.

You have to perform legislative; advocacy and policy development work on building efficiency policies, incentives for highly efficient buildings, building energy codes and come up with policies for promoting appliance and building efficiency.

You may require promoting grants and tax incentives for supporting high-efficiency appliances, buildings and equipment.

Job Prerequisites

This job entails a lot of innovative thinking and creativity as the job is multi-disciplinary. However, an energy efficiency advocate needs to possess the following skills and qualifications:

  • A professional degree or graduate in any of these streams namely engineering, science, business, economics, law, environmental policy or other related discipline.
  • Sound knowledge, experience and expertise on energy policy and energy systems.
  • Strong analytic and quantitative capabilities.
  • Brilliant team-building, leadership and project management qualities.
  • Superb and convincing oral and written advocacy skills.
  • Ability and willingness to create and work with coalition. Must be able to participate in complex negotiations involving a number of stakeholders.
  • Capability for interpreting complex economic and technical analysis and conveying its meaning to media and other non-technical audiences and even experts.
  • Prowess to manage several assignments, work diligently and meet deadlines.
  • Energy Efficiency Advocate enjoys excellent benefits, competitive salary and a wonderful working ambiance. Usually salary is according to a non-profit scale and as per experience.

Author Bio:

Matteo Burke is a retired engineer who has worked for a top company for several years in the past. In his free time, he peruses several sites online ranging from Wikipedia to TexasElectricRates.com.

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Student career guide: Have you selected the right cloud computing career direction?

With the growing popularity of cloud computing applications for businesses of all kinds and sizes, the need arises for professional cloud skilled labour.

Which path will you choose for yourself?

The rise of cloud computing technology can be unnerving for some in the IT industry, but for many it provides a straight shot at fast-tracking their career growth and plumping up their bank accounts. However, if you are looking to venture into cloud computing you will need to select a specific path, and know which skills are more valuable to possess.

In the US alone, there are nearly 4 million jobs for cloud computing professionals, according to a study by Forbes. The median remuneration is $90,950. Worldwide, there are over 18M jobs, with about 40% coming from China.

There is a growing need for use of hybrid and full cloud computing solutions, and with it the demand for people who can facilitate this cloud migration. Qualified candidates today still have the option of selecting from among over fifty jobs, though this will likely reduce over time.

Selecting your cloud career calling

There are two ways to establish your cloud computing career: first, you can become an IT pro with specialized cloud skills or go for IT administration which requires cloud architecture expertise.

Businesses looking for specialized cloud computing/development expertise are already matched with cloud service providers like Google Cloud Platform, MS Azure and Amazon Web Services. Positions within these organizations often involve up-and-coming DevOps automation processes/tools, typically within recently established enterprise groups.

Given the emerging trends in container and Docker technology, the market demands experience and knowledge in creating portable applications with containers. Knowledge of Docker is still highly desirable, since it is the preferred container technology for most providers. It would also be useful to have container-clustering expertise, like in Docker Swarm and Google Kubernetes systems

Building your career and the cloud

Most jobs today demand for specific cloud skills, with AWS jobs leading the pack, Google and MS experts coming after. These skills include development, operations and configuration positions, and can fetch the qualified candidate $110K-$220K dependent on other factors.

Businesses with openings for cloud architects are looking for someone to define the cloud, i.e. take then from business requirements to actual deployment. These are jobs associated with businesses that have not fully defined their cloud needs and require assistance in this. It may also involve outlining the extent of present private/public cloud, or building from the ground.

Cloud solution architects need to have strategic knowledge of as many cloud computing providers and technologies, and the expertise to create hybrid plans according to enterprise needs and business goals.

Remuneration packages lie between $150K and $250K, varying according to experience and location. Consulting firms are willing to pay more, but this will come with a lot of travel, meaning you plate will be full most of the time.

Conclusion

Investing in cloud computing expertise today is definitely a wise career move. However, cloud computing technology is quite fast-moving, meaning that you’ll have to put in a lot of extra work to ensure you remain current and relevant.

Author Bio

Felix Marshall is an IT enthusiast who contributes articles for various sites.

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Pursue Successful Career in Printing Services

Printing industry is quite a progressive industry and there is a wide spectrum of jobs available in this sector. Printing workers are involved in the production of print material in primarily three main stages namely prepress, press and both binding & finishing together.

Printing workers have the responsibility of reviewing specifications, calibrating printers or colour settings, identifying and fixing issues related to printing equipment and also, assembling pages.

The printing process involves three stages and in very small print shops it is common for one person to handle all three stages. However, mostly print shops have different sets of workers who specialize in jobs related to particular stages of the printing process.

Specialist Printing Workers

Prepress Technicians:

These workers render specialist printing services. They help in preparing print jobs and perform a number of tasks for assisting in converting pictures and text into finished pages and preparing the pages for printing.

Some prepress technicians called prefight technicians are responsible for taking images from customers or graphic designers and checking them for completeness.

They are responsible for designs and job specifications from clients’ electronic files or submitted sketches in order to make sure that everything is perfect and error-free and that all pictures are included.

A set of prepress workers specialize in a photographic process called Cold Type Technology for making offset printing plates.

This is a complicated process that involves chemical exposure and ultraviolet light through which pictures and text of any print job are left to harden on metallic plates so that they become water-resistant.

The print technology has recently made a lot of progress and has adopted revolutionary technology known as the direct-to-plate technology. Prepress technicians are now required to directly send the data to plating systems, thereby excluding the necessity for the customary photographic technique.

Printing Press Operators:

These workers specialize in preparing, running and maintaining printing presses. Their responsibilities vary as per the kind of press they would be operating.

Conventional printing processes such as gravure, lithography, letterpress and flexography are known to use a roller or plate carrying the final image and then the image is copied to paper.

However, in modern times, non-impact processes are becoming popular. Plateless processes include digital, ink-jet and electrostatic printing and are effective in duplicating, copying and specialty as well as document printing.

Nowadays commercial printers are used by digital presses mostly. Printing press operators learn to prepare, run as well as, maintain whatever printing presses they are operating.

Binding and Finishing Staff:

These workers are responsible for integrating printed sheets into a finished item such as catalogue, magazine or a book.

Their responsibilities are as per what they are supposed to bind. Often some binding and finishing tasks require only a single step. Preparing newspaper inserts or leaflets, for instance, simply needs a single folding and trimming.

Binding magazines and books would involve several steps.

Bindery workers are responsible for assembling the magazines or books at first from flat, large printed paper sheets.

Then they are supposed to operate machines that are used for folding printed paper sheets into signatures or groups of pages that are organized and arranged sequentially.

Then bindery workers are responsible for assembling signatures in the correct order and joining them by perfect binding or saddle stitching.

Requisite Skill-Set

Printing workers should possess excellent communication skills as they need to communicate with clients and understand their precise requirements.

They should possess basic computer skills and should be conversant with the publishing software.

They should have an eye for detail and possess basic math skills that are essential for coming up with estimates of amount of paper and ink required for a printing job. They should definitely have mechanical aptitude as well to be successful in their profession.

Educational Qualifications

Prepress technicians should acquire a formal Post-secondary Non-Degree Award or they could opt for an Associate’s Degree from a reputed technical school or a junior college, or any well-known community college.

Printing press operators as well as binding & finishing technicians should acquire a High School Diploma and should ideally complete Post-secondary coursework that is usually offered by vocational schools and community colleges.

Those aspiring to pursue management jobs in design or printing may opt for a Bachelor’s Degree Program in Graphic Design. Printing workers need to constantly update and upgrade their skills to stay abreast with recent developments in the printing industry.

Author Bio

Charles Denver is an experienced engineer turned career counselor who has been attached to a digital printing business for more than three decades. He has now taken to blogging, and tracks down new and innovative technology to analyze the impact it may have on the current printing market scenario.

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10 Job Interview Questions and Answers for an Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship Job Interveiw Questions

Often out of 300 applicants only 6 candidates will be interviewed for an apprenticeship position. In most interviews, but this varies depending on the job sector and employer, you will be asked around 10 interview questions during a 45-minute interview. An apprenticeship employer is interested more in your attitude, work ethic, skills, qualities and reliability

This article will help you to prepare and to pass your next job interview in 3 separate ways.

1. You will learn over 10 common asked interview questions for an apprenticeship

2. You will be given an explanation of the type of answer the interviewer is looking for ( a guide to what the employer wants you to discuss )

3. You will be given an example job interview answer for each individual interview question, allowing you to tweak this answer, making it relevant to your own experiences.

Below you can also access 101 Interview Questions and techniques to Influence the Job Interview. Good luck with your next job interview.

Job Interview Questions and Answers for an Apprenticeship

Job Interview Question 1:

“Tell me about yourself?”

This question asked at the interview start, gives you the opportunity to deliver a short statement about your skills, experiences and educational background relevant to the job position you are applying for.

Keep this statement positive and relevant and when you can discuss your unique selling point.

  • Start with a “selling” line that will highlight your strengths and your achievements – this could be your record of attendance, that you were a perfect, your GCSE grades and hobbies and interest out of school; scouts, girl guides, volunteer, career, football captain
  • Discuss your unique selling point as this creates intrigue IE you have never had a day of school sick or you become the class president
  • End this answer with a reason why you’re looking for an apprenticeship

Potential Interview Answer

“I recently left school after achieving 5 grade A’s in my GCSEs. I am passionate about (add in job role) and have researched this job and your company in detail, I was excited to see (add in a positive comment about the company) I suit this role as I have an excellent timekeeping record, I love a challenge, this was proven when I campaign to become the head of year and I have a positive attitude towards work. I have chosen an apprenticeship rather than a colleague because (add in reason)”

Job Interview Question 2:

“Why was your biggest achievement in school or college?”

Be positive with this answer and smile – employers like to hear that you enjoyed school, tried hard and made an effort to develop yourself

  • Discuss a key achievement
  • Explain what you did to create this outcome

Potential Interview Answer

“I enjoyed school and had several key achievements. My biggest achievement was (add achievement) this was achieved by me (add 3 steps that you took to achieve the outcome)

Job Interview Question 3:

“What is your Time Keeping like?”

Here the employer is looking for you to demonstrate your commitment to timekeeping. It is key to explain how you are never late and value reliability

Potential Interview Answer

“For me timekeeping is important. In college I never had a day off sick and was never once late for a lesson. I feel I am highly reliable and when I have an appointment, such as today’s job interview I ensure that I arrive early”

Job Interview Question 4:

“Do you work well within a team?”

Every role has an element of teamwork. Explain how you are a team player and what individual skills you can bring to working in a team”

Potential Interview Answer

“I enjoy working in a team. At school, I was part of the (add group name) team. When working in a team I easily fall into a leadership role, this is due to my ability to plan and take action. Others find it easy to communicate with me which I think is the reason why I am always praised for my teamwork”

Job Interview Question 5:

“How do you feel about working 5 days a week 9-5?”

The employer knows that an apprentice hasn’t worked before (or hasn’t worked for a long period of time compared to experienced members of staff) and when in school or college your hours were less than the working week. The employer here wants to know that you understand the commitment involved and that you are happy to work these longer hours

Potential Interview Answer

“Fine. For me, it is similar to the hours I do now. I attend school 5 days a week 9-3, after school I have a part-time job and at weekends I have 2 paper rounds so I am use to long hours and looking forward to working full time”

Job Interview Question 6:

“How would you be an asset to us?”

Think again about the job specification and the skills needed for this role. Have a paragraph prepared highlighting how you will be able to do the job and what you can bring to the team. It goes without saying that this paragraph should be positive.

Potential Interview Answer

“I’m the type of person who likes to get a task completed; I am driven, hard-working and have excellent time management, an example of this is (add experience). I have always excelled in school and I am excited to share my skills and qualities with you to work collaborative together”

Job Interview Question 7:

“What are your strengths?”

This is one of the most common questions you will be asked. Give an answer relevant to the skills and qualities relevant to the position you are applying to. The interviewer is trying to find if your strengths match the job. For example, if you are applying for a job where accuracy is an important issue, one of your strengths could be that you have an eye for detail. It may useful to find different words to describe similar attributes and qualities in order to avoid repetition.

Potential Interview Answer

“I have often been told that I have an eye for detail and that I am very accurate and precise. This was very important when completing my English GCSE exam, as accuracy was worth 30% of the overall mark which I was given a grade A for.”

Job Interview Question 8:

“What are your weaknesses?”

Again, another commonly asked question. A frequent mistake to make when answering this question is to say something negative like “I can sometimes let things get on top of me”. Be positive and sell yourself with every interview question, turn a negative into a positive. For example,

Potential Interview Answer

“When I first started working part-time in a shop I was unsure what to do and didn’t receive any training – I was asked to get on with it. Because I am proactive I decided to ask an experienced member of staff what the daily duties consisted of and what would be the best thing for me to do. I got on with this work and was praised by the manager for my pro-activeness. If I don’t know how to do something, I find out how to do it.”

Job Interview Question 9:

“Do you know anything about this organisation?”

Often one of the first questions you will be asked during the interview, employers want employees who will stay with the company, this question and answer will show the employer that you know the company’s history and feel they will be a good employer to work for.

It also shows the employer that you think ahead and carry out research. Answer this question with:

  • The length the organisation has been operating for
  • How the company started
  • The company values/mission
  • All this information is normally found on the internet; on the company home page or about us page.

Potential Interview Answer

“I know a great deal about your organisation, before I applied for the job position I researched the company. I really like how the company started as a partnership company 10 years ago and has grown to a company of 70 staff working throughout 18 countries.”

Job Interview Question 10:

“Do you have any questions for me?”

Good interview questions to ask interviewers at the end of the job interview include questions on the company growth or expansion, questions on personal development and training and questions on company values, staff retention and company achievements.

Conclusion

Many people are afraid of job interviews. The truth is if you prepare for your job interview, by predicting the job interview questions, you can easily prepare your job interview answers. If your job interview answers highlight your unique selling point, are stated in the positive and are said in a confident manner, then you can influence the job interview to increase job offer.

Interview Preparation Resources

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Posted on 
What You Need To Know About Building a Career as an Electrician or As a Carpenter
	


	
	

		
Two important careers you can build in the construction industry are either as an electrician or as a carpenter. Below are some of the useful things that you should generally know about starting or building a career in these two professions.


 Career as an Electrician


What the job entails


Most electricians choose to specialize between construction and maintenance jobs but at the end of the day, both skill sets will be useful to an electrician in general. Dealing with high voltage wiring as well as installing and maintaining data, voice and video wiring is also a part of this ever-evolving career.


A large percentage of electricians is self-employed and works in residential, industrial and commercial sites. Electricians like most other crucial service jobs, have to work full time, after normal work hours and even over the weekend.


While at the job, electricians don’t shy away from getting into little dirty spaces that are uncomfortable in order to get the job done and for this reason they are susceptible to minor injuries such as shocks, and scalding.


This is the reason why it is important to take up a course that will instruct you on what you need to know.


There are several electrician courses in London that you could take to help you avoid any injury or harm.


Educational and training background


In order to be a skilled electrician, most people usually go through some sort of apprenticeship course on top of having some formal educational background.


A good apprenticeship course requires a specific number of classroom and on the job hours in order to get accreditation to work in most well-paying electrician jobs. Such a course can take as long as four years to complete.




Career as a Carpenter


What the job entails


Despite what most people think, a career as a carpenter doesn’t only involve knowing how to work with wood.


You also need knowledge on working with other materials such as fiberglass, plastic and drywall. Being precisely able to follow specifications and blueprints is what distinguishes the good carpenters from the ordinary ones because of the quality of work that they are able to produce.


A carpenter should be able to assemble, build and repair structures and fixtures using the different materials mentioned above but especially with wood.


Most carpenters find their careers in the construction industry where the jobs are full time and often require adherence to strict deadlines. There are many other carpenters who also find a career as self-employed craftsmen.


Being a carpenter can be a physically demanding job because you will need to be on your feet or on your knees throughout most of the day, and you will also need to lift heavy materials.


Educational and training background


There are several ways to get into a career as a carpenter and most of them will involve some on the job apprenticeship and academic or classroom time.


The options mainly include taking an apprenticeship course, a graduate course or a contractor’s on the job training.


Author Bio:


Susan S. Martinez has been a career counselor for the last 15 years. She recommends electrician courses in London and other practical skills to everyone she meets who wants to build confidence and skills that they can earn some money from. Visit her blog for more information.



	


	





		

		
Posted on 
The Practical Experience You Should Expect to Gain as Intern in a Hosting Company
	


	
	

		
The Experience An Intern Should Receive in a Hosting Company


If you are a computer science or computer engineering student, a web hosting company is one of the places to do your internship. Internship is about getting practical experience that will prepare you for the work place.   Before you start your internship, you should at least have a basic understanding of the web as well as how it runs. You should for instance have technical level knowledge of:


    

  • What a website is and how it operates
    • 

  • Different types of websites
    • 

  • Where a website ‘exists’
    • 

  • What is a hosting company and why is it so important
    • 



Have an open mind as an intern


Though you might know a lot about how hosting services work, you need to go into your work place with an open mind, because every company is different. One company will be drastically different from another in terms of:


    

  • Choice of hosting software
    • 

  • Hosting Hardware specifications
    • 

  • Types of hosting services provided
    • 

  • Service delivery methodology
    • 

  • Customer interaction processes
    • 

  • Sales and marketing processes
    • 



Companies also have different policies of what an intern can and cannot do. This will greatly affect your learning process. However, a frank discussion with your internship supervisor should get you exposed to most of the company’s operations, which include the following:


Technical work (in the field or in office) 


Different hosting providers offer different hosting services. The most popular service offered by the company is determined by customer demand and demand is dependent on the amount of effort the company invests in marketing its services.   You will learn how to host different customer accounts on some or all of the following services:


Shared hosting: This is the most commonly preferred service by individuals and small business owners for the simple fact that it’s inexpensive.


Dedicated hosting: A customer who pays for a dedicated hosting service will have control of an entire server. This option is expensive and is usually preferred by large companies who not only want privacy and, but also quality performance.


VPS hosting: This is a form of dedicated hosting, only that the servers are virtual and not physical. Though the physical servers that host these ‘virtual machines’ are shared, customer gets more bandwidth and space than with shared hosting.


Cloud hosting: you will finally get to understand how the world of cloud hosting works in reality.




Customer support


An important service that keeps a hosting provider in business is customer support. If the hosting service has a 24/7 customer support line, you will be required to spend some time answering customer calls and responding to their queries and resolving their problems.   You will learn how to interact with the different systems and software that the customer service department uses to deliver great service.


Sales and marketing 


Even though your interest is in the more technical aspect of the company, you should spend some time with the sales and marketing team to understand how it generates demand for the company’s products.   You will also learn how the sales team:


    

  • Explain to customers the differences between each hosting service
    • 

  • Helps customers decide the hosting plan that is right for them
    • 



The amount of exposure you will get during your internship will help you on your first job after graduation. You can check reviews of hosting companies to see which ones have a great internship program.


Author Bio:


Jayson Bryune is a freelance content writer. He has written many articles on different categories like Technology, health, travel, career, education, jobs, interview etc. He has experienced firsthand the need for a good hosting service and advises others to read reviews on Inexpensive Web Hosting before deciding on a hosting service.