Tag: career advice

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “do you have any questions for me?”

The job interview is coming to an end; the interviewer has asked around 10 job interview questions designed to test you on your industry knowledge, sector-specific qualifications, your skillset and ability, how you deal with job-related problems, and to see if you are the right fit for the company culture and team

The final question asked for all job roles in all industries in every organization is the most commonly asked question “do you have any questions?”

How to Answer the Interview Question

Are you one of those interviewees who waste this amazing opportunity?

Having a chance to ask the employer, well, anything, is a golden egg. If you are following, more importantly, implementing the advanced interview techniques on this blog, then you are going to offered multiple job opportunities.

So how will you decide which job offer to accept? The salary? Well, a higher salary is appealing but often the job role, level of reasonability and the company culture and team are, for most people, more important.

The reason so many job applicants waste this golden opportunity is because they ask a couple of standard questions because they have to. You have been invited to the job interview because the employers like what they read on your application. It’s now your turn to find out if you like what the company has to offer – remember you are likely to work here for 35hrs per week, 52 weeks of the year for, on average, 3-5 years – make sure you are happy with your choice

These following job interview questions you can ask the employer will give you an insight into their leadership style, company values, company culture and how they view their employees (as an inconvenience or a valued commodity)

Job Interview Question 1 – Duration

The first question is a two-parter; “how long have you worked for the organization?” and “what has made you stay?” If the interview panel are all recently recruited I would dig into this a bit more “what is the average time someone stays with the organisation for?” This question is designed to help you understand the culture. If you accept a role in a company where staff retention is poor there’s probably a reason for it!!

The second part of this interview question “what has made you stay” will give you an understanding of the company’s benefits; CPD, bonuses, the team/culture – are these things that appeal to you?

Job Interview Question 2 – a day in the life of

You want to ask about the manager’s day “what is a typical day for you like?”. The reason for this question is that you will get an understanding of their management style. If they answer along the lines of “its busy, always lots going on, it can get really crazy..” It’s unlikely that they have an organized approach, so you need to decide if you can work in this type of environment. If, for example, they reply with “a third of my time is spent planning, a third in meetings and a third supporting the team to achieve the objective” then they are likely to have a planned and organized management approach. Also note, that managers who talk about supporting staff are most likely to be people focus and a manager who states they do a lot of cross-checking can, sometimes, be micromanagers.

Job Interview Question 3 – values

The company culture has one of the biggest impacts on staff motivation. There are a couple of ways to gather this information “how does the company live its values?” “what has the organisation been working on in the last 3 months to achieve the company vision?” “what it’s your favorite thing about working here?” “How does the organisation support employees?” Here, you want to ask questions about the company culture that interest and motivate you. The answers should help you answer the question – do I want to work here?

Job Interview Advice

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “What will you do in the first month of the job?”

This job interview question comes in many forms; what will you achieve in the first 3 months of accepting the position? How would your first week look? What would your priorities in the first few months of starting the role?

It doesn’t matter on the sentence structure, what matters is the underlying reason for being asked this question and how you should present your job interview answer

How to Answer the Interview Question

This job interview question is asked in managerial roles and positions where the employer expects you to get on with the task in hand.

The employer isn’t looking to handhold you in this company, so you need to give a professional answer that explains the process you will follow.

A good way to look at this job interview question is through the perspective of a project manager – with your position being the project

In project management, you receive a project brief – the job description and/or job advert (these two documents explain the role and what the employer expects from you – your objectives)

Once you have a project brief you can split the objectives into work packages – these are the individual task you need to achieve (in a job role this could include; increasing customer engagement or increasing manufacturing production, managing of staff or working within a team, generating workable ideas/project management, etc)

With the details in mind, you now look at the potential risk (in a job role this could include; decline in orders, machine defects, uncooperative team members, unforeseen external events such as the coronavirus)

And finally, a solution(s) to the identified risk(s) This is where you can discuss your unique selling point, allowing you to stand out from the crowd

Let me put this together for you.

So, you are asked the job interview question what will you do in the first month of starting the position?

You need to cover objectives, individual task, risk and solutions.

Most applicants will say something pretty boring like “I’d get to know the team, read the processes and procedures and start working towards my main objective”

Instead, impress the interviewer using the project management model: “as far as I can see my main objective is X. To achieve the objective I will (task – give some detail here) The biggest risk includes X. A proactive approach to this risk is (add solution)”

Here you have shown you understand the company vision/the job positions goals/objectives, and that you have an awareness of the biggest threats to achieving these goals as well as showing that you are a proactive problem-solver.

Job Interview Advice

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “What salary are you seeking?”

This has to be one of the most sensitive but most important job interview questions to be asked

Before preparing for your next job interview you need to first understand the implications this job interview question has and the silly and innocent mistakes people make that reduce their potential salary

To gain the best salary offer you can use a simple psychology interview technique and increase your annual income

How to Answer the Interview Question

First let me start with the poor advice that you will read on the web

Delay Tactic – the advice here is to delay this question to the interview end, giving you time to highlight your skills, knowledge and unique selling point before talking about the salary (if you like me you will offer me more money!)

Stupid advice really; if the interviewer asks you about your ideal salary at the interview start (most interviewers ask this question at the interview end) you cant say “can I answer this later as I want to tell you about my experience first so you will offer me more money!” If you are asked a question, you have to answer it – job interview etiquette lesson 1!!!!

Ask the interviewer first – The common advice that is thrown around regarding your salary, which is totally wrong, is to throw the salary question back at the interviewer “what is the salary range for this position?” This shows that you lack confidence, and the interviewer will simply offer you a lower salary

Give a salary range – many interviewees will offer up a range “between £50000-£60000” This is one of the most stupid mistakes you can. The interviewer knows your salary range – your ideal is £60K but you are willing to accept £50K so the interviewer’s first offer will be around £50K knowing that the only reason you wouldn’t accept is only when you have been offered another higher salary. If this is the case they can then increase the salary offer

Also, be careful if you use the salary range technique as some interviewers will be cheeky and first start the negotiations by offering a salary slightly lower then your baseline, in this example, of £50k

To get the highest salary offer depends on two key factors:

One – who sets the initially salary (referred to as the baseline)

Two – the salary limit the company will commit to

There are 3 types of salary negotiations; set salary, flexible range, and open roof salary

The set salary is for positions where you have no leverage, it doesn’t matter on your skill base, experience or unique selling point the salary is set – you either take it or leave it. If this is you – I’m sorry, this whole article has been a bit pointless

The set salary is common in most low to medium-skilled jobs

Flexible range salary – in many medium-skilled and low-level management positions the salary on offer will be within a range and you can negotiate within these fixed boundaries

The interviewer will be stuck within this range and it is unlikely that you will get anything more than the highest offer (which you will gain using the technique below)

For these types of positions you need to do your research; check the salary offer on the job advert or if there isn’t one you can check the average salary for this position through checking the salary on similar roles or through a salary checker (many versions of this online)

Open roof salary – in some positions; CEO’s, directors, stockbrokers the salary can be open-ended depending on what value you will bring to the organization. How you present yourself within the job interview plus the technique below will dramatically change your salary

Salary Negotiation

The power of salary negotiation comes down to a technique called baseline theory. The baseline is the starting point for negotiations. Whoever sets the baseline salary offer is in a position of power as all other offers are subconsciously made in comparison to the first set of figures

Let’s say the employer sets the baseline at £50,000, your counteroffer is based on this initial offer – you won’t go lower (because that would be stupid) but you won’t go to high in comparison to the baseline as this would feel awkward. Your counteroffer is £60,000 and you meet somewhere around £55,000

Compare this example to one where the interviewee sets the initial baseline offer at £70,000. The interviewer will then negotiate with their first counteroffer created through the psychology of a baseline at £60,000 and you meet around the £65,000 area – £10,000 more than when the employer sets the baseline

Job Interview Advice

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “What motivates you?”

Positively framed interview questions are great, as they give you the opportunity to highlight your strengths. But this question traps you into framing the question that doesn’t do you any favors

The generic go-to answer that most applicants use is “To do a good job! To be on time! To get the job done!” You hear these types of answers all the time and they all have 1 problem…..

How to Answer the Interview Question

Each of these job interview answers are about the applicant! Yes, ok I heard some of you gasp. Let me explain;

I know the job interview is about the interviewee. And the job interviewer is asking job interview questions to better understand if you are a good fit for the team, right?

But your job (in the job interview) is to be offered the position. Which means you need to know what type of interview answers will get you the best score

The employer is building a team that fits in with the company culture. Rarely do employers want humans machines to simply act like robots.

It is this company culture and the attached company values which is the clue to how best answer the job interview question “what motivates you?”

First research the company values – what is important to the company? What is their vision for the organisation?

Employers are looking for employees who meet these values and who they see will help achieve their vision and work well within the company culture they have purposely created

Instead of answering this question by stating what is important to you, instead answer the interview question by describing the common interest/passion between you and the organisation

Apple, one of the worlds leading computer company’s mission is “to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services.” And in a manifesto dated 2009 Tim Cook set the vision specified as “We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing.”

So you cloud talk about getting the job complete, meeting targets and working as a team, but Apple isn’t interested in you, they are interested in the customer. Apple wants to hire staff who are motivated by the user experience

Job Interview Advice

Using email to ask about an internship is becoming increasingly common. Securing an internship itself, however, has become harder as more graduates and students compete for the same internships. Yet with a carefully considered and personalized email, you stand a good chance of catching the attention of potential employers. 

Preparing To Write Your Email

Before you write the email, check that you have a professional email address. Where possible, avoid unnecessary numbers or symbols and definitely do not use nicknames. You may want to create a new email address for professional purposes. 

Another area to consider is your social media accounts. You may need to adjust the privacy settings on your social media accounts and check that they don’t contain posts with bad language or photos which may not be appropriate for a potential employer to see.

Writing The Email

Follow this structure to create an appropriate and successful email:

• Subject line – this is the first thing an employer will see so you want it to be noticed. Make it succinct and accurate. If a particular subject line has been requested by the company, use it.
• Use formal address – start your email with “Dear Mr./Mrs.”. If the person you are addressing has a title, e.g. Dr or Professor, make sure you use it. 
• Introduce yourself – use the first paragraph to introduce yourself, your status and how you found out about the internship. If you have established a mutual contact, mention this in your email.
• Qualifications and experience – describe your academic achievements, qualifications and any experience you have that makes you a suitable candidate. Include any information about volunteering or work you have undertaken, as well as any extra-curricular or academic success you have had, such as leading a committee or coaching a team. Explain what you can contribute to the company and how you would be beneficial to them.
• Reasons for applying – clearly explain your reasons for applying for the internship. Do you need it for course credit or is it primarily for experience? Tell the employer what skills you hope to gain from the internship. Mention what qualities or values the company has that you admire and contribute towards you wanting to work with them.
• Availability – share your availability, including any potential start and end dates. Make sure you state how many hours per week you will be available to work.
• Closing your email – it is polite to thank the recipient for having read your email. You should also include a call-to-action at this point, such as suggesting that they call during the week to discuss the available opportunities. Remember to end your email formally with, for example, ‘Yours sincerely’ or ‘Kind regards’. Include your full name and contact details at the end of the email.  

“The key things to remember are to personalize each email and to keep it short and to the point,” explains James Yamada, a career writer at Academized. “If you’re attaching a resume, check that it’s updated. Finally, remember to proofread the email before you send it and double-check for any typos or mistakes. You want to make a good impression!” 

Follow Up Email

After a week, if the company hasn’t contacted you, you can follow up with a friendly reminder email or call them. It can be easier to communicate via the phone, but remember not to overdo it or contact them too soon. 

Summary

Writing these types of emails can be intimidating, but it is worth the effort. Even if you don’t secure the internship, you have made a valuable connection that may benefit you in the future. So, don’t delay! Do your research and send the email that will help you get your internship.

Author Bio:

Bea Potter is a successful writer at UK Writings. She writes about college life, including education and healthy living for students. 

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There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “Who wouldn’t you work with?”

What a question to be asked in the job interview!

This is a bit of a ‘trap’ so watch out. These types of job interview questions are rare, but if you are asked one of them out of the blue and you haven’t prepared yourself you will be thrown off-balance.

In the job interview, when you are caught of unawares, your stress level rises and you will often blurt out the first thing that pops into your head (and that isn’t always the best way to answer tricky job interview questions)

How to Answer the Interview Question

The interviewer here has framed the question so your answer will be negative (naughty interviewer!) To answer this job interview question simply follow these 3 steps to reframe the interview question allowing you to give a positive response

Step 1 – Start with a positive generalization

As the interview question is framed negatively “who wouldn’t you want to work with?” you need to flip this around “In all my roles I have always gotten on well with all my previous colleagues” This sets out the theme of your answer and seeds your positive character (this question, in essence, is about understanding who you are and what makes you tick)

Step 2 – detail the perfect colleague

Next, describe the type of person you do enjoy working with (focusing on their work ethic) “I always enjoy working with someone who has an eye for detail and ……” by describing the perfect person, the employer will actually associate these traits with you (even though you are saying the positive statement about a fictional person)

Step 3 – if you get pushed, give a solution

Step 1&2 works in most job interviews. But if you are pushed to describe the type of person you wouldn’t want to work with give a generic answer “I would prefer not to work with someone who is lazy or a bad timekeeper..” Many interviewees, who are asked these tricky job interview questions, due to nervousness, will often name someone they didn’t get on with! This is a big no-no

To end this interview question, when pushed to give a negative, finish by explaining what you would do in that situation “…if they were lazy and we had a deadline to meet I would be assertive and professional and asked them to…”

Job Interview Advice

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “What is your greatest achievement”

You have to love this job interview question. Other job interview questions are designed to catch you out or to test your industry knowledge or a specific skill, but the ‘what is your greatest achievement?’ interview question is saying “tell me the best thing about you”

How to Answer the Interview Question

An easy way to answer this question is to simply jump in and explain an achievement in basic terms “I was the best salesperson last year” but this answer is, well, boring, and it doesn’t really help you to stand out, does it?

Remember, all the other applicants will also discuss a random achievement. To stand out, to be offered the position, you need to get the employer emotionally connected to your job interview answer. The easiest way to create an emotional pull in the job interview is through storytelling.

Job interview storytelling is easy. You only need to follow these 4 steps

Job Interview Storytelling Step 1 – Set the Scene

All stories and movies initially set the scene. In the job interview, we don’t have a 90-minute movie timeframe, so our scene-setting can be achieved in just one opening paragraph

To grab the interviewer’s attention you to bring their attention to a potential threat. In a film, this may be a deadly disease, an alien attack, or a theme park filled with dinosaurs. Job interview examples could include:

“The company I worked for was on the brink of collapse“

“We were unable to compete with a new market entrant as they had utilised artificial intelligence, and as a small organised we were unable to complete with them”

“My manager asked me to join the companies worst performing team”

Job Interview Storytelling Step 2 – Build Suspense

Step 2 is easy to implement. Build upon the initial problem and add emotionally linked words. In a movie we see the main character lose everything which makes the audience care for them. We become emotionally connected to them, we join their side and want to help them

If we take the company was going to collapse scenario, explain the outcome to this “350 people could lose their job, share prices were predicted to half within weeks..”

Job Interview Storytelling Step 3 – Create Hope

Halfway through films, the audience is given hope – this could be a potential cure to a disease or a lonely character meets their potential life long partner

For the job interview, explain in one line what the required solution was “to avoid a total collapse of the organisation, the company needed to X..”

Job Interview Storytelling Step 4 – Happy Ending

All films have a happy ending; the couple fall in love, the planet is saved, ET phones home. To end your job interview answer you need your own happy ending.

Here though, you need the main charter, you, to be the solution to the problem: what action did you take and what was the outcome of your hard work?

Did you negotiate a new deal that saved the company?

Did you slay your nemeses? (maybe a competitor was using illegal means to gain lucrative contracts and you caught them out)

Did a selfless act save the word or in real life, did go above and beyond to save the company for collapse resulting in share prices rising, gaining new investments and saving 350 people’s jobs and livelihood?

Job Interview Advice

There’s a love-hate relationship with job interviews. We love that we have the chance to prove ourselves to a new employer, and hopefully get a new position with a big new salary…but we hate the job interview process; its scary, horrific, terrifying!!!

This series of job interview articles will teach you how to pass your next job interview by explaining how to answer each tricky job interview question

How to Answer “did you get on with your last manager”

An interesting job interview question, right? You have two possible answers, you can answer “yes” or “no.” I will explain both options, teaching you how to respond to the “did you get on with your last manager?” job interview question depending on your situation.

First thing first, some of you who didn’t get on with your last manager are thinking – can’t I just lie?

Tempting isn’t it? But don’t do it. Humans, well most of us, don’t lie easily. When we do fib, we show our deceit in our subconscious actions; a touch of the face, blushing, an increase in filler words, how you structure your sentence varies. Your interviewer won’t necessarily know all of these tells, but at some level, they will sense that something isn’t right with your answer, creating doubt in their opinion of you

How to Answer the Interview Question

First I will explain how you handle the interview question “did you get on with your last manager?” if you didn’t get on y[with your previous boss?

Let’s say you worked for someone that you just didn’t get on with. Let’s say that you hated your last manager – how do you handle the job interview question?

The first step is to analyze your manager; even if you disliked your manager on a personal level, there has to be something about the manager that you saw as a strength or a positive personality trait or maybe you didn’t approve on their management style but you like their temperament or vice versa.

The second step is to frame your answer; when asked this job interview question, it is often out of the blue as most job applicants don’t expect to be asked a question like this. This results in interviewees starting their answer with “well, erm, he was OK, but, well, you know, he did a good job at ….” This sketchy start will kill your interview credibility. You need to answer this question with confidence and assertiveness:

“The main thing I liked/admired about my last manager was…”

“My previous manager had a (add your own answer here – example; highly organised approach that ensured the project was completed on time)….”

“I worked for my previous manager for X years I learned several things that helped me in my career, the main one being…”

This tactic is powerful because there is no need to lie. You are framing the answer as a positive, using a truth but without actually saying that you “got on” with your previous manager. Because your job interview answer is clear and assertive, the interview won’t realise that you have sneakily sidestepped the job interview question

If you did get on well with your previous employer, then this interview question is easy to answer. But rather than using the same old rubbish, most interviewees use “yes we got on great with each other!” you can answer this interview question that makes you sound amazing

Step 1 – confirm loyalty; start by stating the respect you had for your previous manager. The interview that asks this question desires a good relationship with their team and will want a similar situation to what you are describing with their new team member. “I have a lot of respect for my previous manager, she was the kinda manager who praised you when you did something well and pulled you up when you made errors…”

Step 2 – share success; give an example of collaborative working, to highlight how you worked well together. “…last year we worked together on a project…” When giving an example; state the problem the business faced; the action you took; and the positive outcome.

Step 3 – discuss regret; after the example, summarise your interview answer by sharing your regret for leaving your current position. “it’s a shame to be leaving the company but it’s time to move on and I’m excited to be working for an organization like this”

Job Interview Advice