Reality Show – Recruiters Work for … Themselves

Pick your Reality Show: 

1. “Recruiters I talk to are not positive and don’t call me back with any jobs.  They seem too busy to talk with me.  They don’t follow-up.  I’ll never find a job working through them.”
2. “Recruiters won’t leave me alone!  I always am getting messages and e-mails from recruiters.  Whether I’m looking for another job or not, I can always count on be approached for this opportunity or that.” 

Why these two different realities?  Did # 2 just find the golden ticket?

 The reality is that both are true – depending on what your skills and capabilities are.  Recruiters, whether they are staffing for direct-hire positions, contracting / consulting positions, or a combination of the two, contract-to-hire, are paid for and driven by the demands of their clients.   Of course some will find their experience somewhere in-between. 

 Facts are that:  Clients pay the fees… clients pay the bill rates…  recruiters cost the clients money…  clients  aren’t going to pay extra money to find skills they can easily find themselves, are common, or are outdated.  The reality is, recruiters need to find the most in-demand skills held by the professionals whom are in the shortest supply to be able to justify the value of their services to their client. 

 On top of that, most recruiters are only paid if they actually get someone hired, so they have to work a lot of different positions at a number of different clients to set up as many good matches as they can with the outcome of filling some of those jobs with some of those candidates.  There is absolutely no way they will get everyone placed that they work with or fill every job they work on.  It’s unrealistic to expect one recruiter to find a job in the short run, unless your skills are very high demand and the recruiter has a solid book of related business ready-to-go. 

 The reality is that even the best recruiters realistically have to spend their time with people they are going to have the best chance of placing. 

 The best recruiters are still sensitive to the entire market in which they serve and frequently can be a helpful resource, even for those they can’t place.  The best recruiters are conscientious of their public image and reputation and will provide help to the degree it’s practical, but just like any other professional – their business depends on working smart and there’s only so much they can be expected to do for someone that they are highly unlikely to place.   Remember, they aren’t hired to find you a job (those are called employment agencies) they are hired by companies to find talent.  

 If you’re looking to move up in any field, have employment security, and have the “headhunters” and the opportunities looking for you – then do everything you can to keep your skills up to where they will be the most in-demand.  If you’re in the technology field – don’t make the mistake of sticking with outdated  technology because you’re comfortable – if you get laid off, you’ll find job hunting hard.  Choose opportunities and learning situations that will keep you ahead of the field – you can be 25 or 55 and still be working with new technologies.

 If you have any suggestions or comments to add to this topic, please add the comments below.

4 Pieces of the Interview Puzzle That Must Fit Together

There are four interview questions that you expect to be asked and that you need to be well prepared for:

1) If you’re working: “Why are you thinking of leaving your current employer?” (Reasons for Change)
Or
If you’re not working: “Why did you leave your last employer?”

2) What are you looking for in a new opportunity?

3) Why are you interested in this opportunity?

4) What are your career goals?

The answers that you construct to these questions should be like four pieces to an easy to construct childhood puzzle – put them together and the employer will have the whole picture of what drives you, why you’re there, what you’re looking for, and where you want to go. The answers to these questions should lead logically from one to the other to the other. The puzzle pieces should fit together – it should make sense. Why you are looking for a new opportunity should fit in with your career goals and why you are interested their opportunity and what type of position you’re looking for. Your career goals should be consistent with your reasons for change, what you’re looking for in a position and why you’re talking to the employer about this opportunity.

If you are fully prepared for all of the above questions and are sure that they are consistent with each other, before going into the interview, then you are going to impress the employer that you know what you’re looking for and why you’re there. It’s very frustrating to an interviewer to be taking their time to meet with someone who isn’t sure why they’re there or want they want. If you can’t make all of these things fit together prior to the interview – then maybe it’s not the right position or you don’t have the right reasons to consider changing jobs.

Here’s an example:

Interviewer: What are your career objectives?

Interviewee: I’m primarily interested in finding an environment that has more opportunity for learning and greater ability to take on new responsibilities. That is primarily what is lacking in my current environment, the company doesn’t believe much in training or mentoring programs and there is a tendency to be pigeon-hold into a narrow job function without getting to expand. When hearing about the opportunity with your organization, there seemed to be a real emphasis on the learning opportunity, cross training, and growth in the position.

This interviewee has told the employer why they are there, why they are interested in their organizations positions, what’s lacking at their current organization (without setting a negative tone), all within the context of what their career goals are. SCORE!

Keep the reasons for change positive, though sometimes it can’t be avoided to have to insinuate what is lacking at your current employer to have it make sense why you are looking. Just try to put it in as positive a tone as possible and don’t act bitter or angry about it. If you’re current employer reprimands employees for speaking to others during the workday if you’re not in a direct meeting (I know a company that does this), then you could say that you’re interested in leaving your current employer to find an organization that has a stronger commitment to building a team-oriented environment and a positive work atmosphere.

Make sure to prepare for every interview. Write down the answers to the above questions on a sheet of paper. Work through your mind if they are consistent with each other and if it makes sense for this interview opportunity. Now set the paper aside and practice, out load and possibly in front of a mirror, answering any of the above questions by covering ALL the puzzle pieces in a flowing manner. Ask someone else to listen and role play with you. See if it all makes sense to them. Being ready for these questions will be more likely to set the right tone for getting you a job offer than other preparation that you might do. And equally importantly, this exercise will help you in making sure that you take the right position that fits you and objectives best.

Good luck in your interview and please feel free to ask questions or add your ideas as a COMMENT to this blog.

Keep Job Hunting During the Holidays

It is a common assumption that companies aren’t hiring over the winter holidays and many job hunters slow down their networking and searching activities during this time of year with the intent of looking again in January when things pick up. I guess that’s OK if you don’t really need a job. It’s the same as not showing up to play in the football game – certainly don’t expect to be in the end zone.

Several things should be considered about job hunting in December.

1) Some companies are hiring now because they want someone on -board and ready -to-go on the first Monday in January.
2) Because so many job seekers are busy with other distractions like shopping and holiday parties, there are fewer competitors on the market, increasing your likelihood of an interview and a job offer.
3) If a company is actively looking this time of year, the manager is generally very serious about hiring and is likely to make decisions more quickly.
4) Some managers have budget s that open up a new space on their team for the New Year and they want to get the help as soon as possible, or they have budget or a requisition that will expire at the first of the year and needs to be used.
5) If you need to put your career on a better track, then sitting out the holidays isn’t something your career can afford.
6) Even if there are more openings in January, there will also be a LOT more people looking. In the IT world especially, it’s common for consultants to have been rolled off at year end and the market is generally heavier on available talent than available requirements.

So what is the best holiday hunting strategy? Work harder, operate with a great sense of urgency, chase down more leads, answer more postings, upgrade your postings on job boards and social network sites, such as LinkedIn, and generally do more of what you normally do to job hunt – not less.

Do not let yourself even think that the manager might not want to interview because it’s January 19th and Christmas is coming up – let them figure the schedule. People interview and get job offers on December 24th and December 26th – companies usually close for December 25th and January 1, and they may well be hiring on other days.

Happy holiday job hunting! Please feel free to post questions or comments to this blog.

Job Boards for IT Professionals – Worth it or Worthless?

Monster.com, Dice.com, ComputerJobs.com, HotJobs.com, and many other job boards promise and promote their abilities to hook technical professionals up with that ideal job. Do they? Well yes, sometimes. Sometimes you get a job through a recruiter or consulting company, sometimes a friend hooks you up, a few people are even finding jobs now through social networking (LinkedIn, Facebook etc…), but job boards remain the quickest click to many technical positions and is very likely to generate phone calls your direction if you post your resume and contact information.

In fact, odds are best that a job board posted resume will draw the attention of a recruiter more so than an end employer. In the case of Dice.com, which is very popular with the consulting marketplace, a posted resume there is very likely to draw response from contracting firm recruiters.

How many jobs you find on the job boards and how many phone calls you receive will be in direct proportion to the demand for your skills in the marketplace. If you’ve let your skills stagnant on older technology that the marketplace has left behind, then job boards aren’t going to present a panacea, however if you have skills that are marketable, then the results can be effective.

Be very cautious about posting your resume on-line if you are currently employed. Your employer may do searches for employees of the company to see who’s looking – you might find yourself on the layoff short list as a result. On most boards you can post your resume as “confidential”, but be careful to remove as much unique information as possible that might identify you. This includes current and past employers, schools attended, and particular project descriptions. It probably makes the most sense to create a skills overview to use in place of your resume for these purposes. If you post as “confidential” and then leave your resume with your name, current employer and other identifiable details, then you might as well not bother with it being “confidential”. Resumes posted as “Confidential”, however, will not draw the same number of responses as those with names and contact information. If your skills are definitely marketable and the risk of your employer finding out you’re on the market isn’t going to put your livelihood in jeopardy, then it may be worthwhile to take the risk of a “named” posting.

Whether posting publically or confidentially, fill out summary information as thoroughly as possible. Much of the screening done by employers is based on searches in which they examine summary pages of dozens or even hundreds of candidates. The more complete the information that is entered on your qualifications and particular skill levels, desired position(s), desired locations, earnings requirements, etc… the more likely it is that your information will be noticed by someone with a matching position. Also, while not underselling your skills, make sure they are not overstated as well. Particularly in technical positions, if you list a language or tool that you’ve only familiar with, why include it in on your resume to have a potential employer question it and discover you’re really not experienced in using it. If they find one thing not to believe, odds are they won’t believe a lot of the other information either.

If you are actively needing to find other work, then it is probably best to make the investment in a cell phone, so that you don’t miss the call of potential employers or are at least able to retrieve messages and return them during business hours on the same day. In a competitive marketplace, not being available can cost you the job. It isn’t unusual for the client to have surfaced enough candidates that they cut-off looking at new prospects. The sooner you connect, the better potential that you’ll have.
When answering job postings, carefully look them over to ensure that you meet the minimum requirements. It’s OK to stretch a little and apply for positions that you don’t have 100% of the skills for, but you’re wasting your time to submit your resume for positions that you are totally unqualified for. If a company spends hundreds of dollars on a job post, it’s because they want someone that matches their needs better then the guy walking down the street. If necessary, provide additional information with your ad response to explain how your skills match up to the position requirements.

So are job boards worth it or worthless? If you make sure to make a good on-line presentation and have skills that the market is looking for, then job boards can be a real asset. It is important to scrutinize who calls you and what they are presenting to you – as you are on the open market, you have to set the standards and use good sense with whom you share personal information and the types of organizations and people that you get involved with.
Happy job hunting!

If you have any questions or insights on this subject, please add them as COMMENTS on this blog.

“What Salary Are You Looking For?” – Your Answer Can Be Very Costly!

“What Salary Are You Looking For?” the interviewer asks.

“$80 to 85 thousand”, you reply. The offer comes in at $80 thousand, after-all, you told them that number was OK. Why pay you $85 thousand? Perhaps their range on the position would have allowed them to go to $90 thousand in their offer to you, but you’ll never know.

“80 to 85 thousand”, you reply. No offer is made. You didn’t know that the salary range is only up to $70 thousand for this position. You probably would’ve accepted $70 thousand because you really liked, and needed, the job, but you were trying to not undercut your salary by naming too low a number. They chose not to offer you the lower number as they felt you might be insulted or disgruntled in the future because you accepted less money than you were really looking for.

“$80 to 85 thousand”, you reply. No offer is made. This is a higher level position and since you have some good experience, they assumed you were making at least $100 thousand, as were some of the other candidates they were looking at. Because you were 20% less in your expectations than other candidates, they presume that your lack of expectations or past earnings power might be an indicator of less potential than they may have thought. They hire the higher salary person, figuring that their expectations more closely match the demands of the position.

You’re getting the idea – naming expected salary numbers is a sure-fire way to “shoot yourself in the foot” and can possibly cost you thousands or a job offer. Depending on the personality of the hiring authority, you might be forced into giving them a monetary answer – but if you can avoid it by pursuing more strategic answers to the question, do so!

“The most important thing to me is finding the right company to work for, long-term. If you feel I’m the right person for this position, which I hope that you do, then I would want you to offer a salary that you feel is fair for the market and what I’m bringing into your company?” With this response, you challenge the employer to evaluate your value and make you a fair offer. If you name the first number – you’re most likely locked-in. If they name the first number, you might be able to negotiate it to the range you need to be in. If you can’t negotiate it higher, odds are that you were out of the range from the start.

“I am very open to considering an offer that you feel is competitive to the market and fair for my skills”. Similar to the previous answer, just abbreviated.

You can also answer their question with a question. “Is there a range for the position that you have in mind” or “Given the skills that I’m bringing into your company, what salary do you see as being a potential?” This again puts them in the position of showing their cards first. You can reply to their answer with an indication that you’d certainly consider an offer, if made, while still not committing to the exact numbers. If they state a range and it’s a very acceptable range for you, then you could answer that and offer at the higher end of the range would certainly be given serious consideration. If they state numbers that are clearly under your acceptable range, you could reply that you would appreciate their offer, but your expectation ultimately might be above that range.
No matter what you answer, it is always possible that the interviewer will say, “That’s all well and good, but I really need to know a salary that you would accept for the position”. In this case, I would recommend that you side-step again and ask if you can follow-up with them the next day with an answer to that. Ask them if they can give you benefit information and any other incentives to weigh into coming up with an appropriate salary proposal. If they are serious about wanting to offer you the position, then they will gladly give you the requested information and understand that it is better for you to answer the question after having had an opportunity to reflect.
When you call them the next day, be prepared to tell them what you like about the position, what you feel like you’re bringing to the position and name one number that you feel is fair and that you will be happy with. Let them know that if they make you that offer, then you’re prepared to accept the position. Don’t undersell yourself and don’t push for out of a competitive range, but propose what would be on the higher end of a your range.
If you have other ideas of how to respond to the salary expectations question, please add your ideas as COMMENTS to this blog. I’m also glad to answer any questions about this subject that you add as COMMENTS too. Good luck in your next interview and in getting the salary offer you’re looking for!

The Best Way to Answer the”What is Your Current Salary” Question

There are many different strategies and recommendations on how to handle the “What is Your Current Salary” question in an interview. A lot of the recommended answers are bad advice and can cost people job offers or money in the pocket. Probably the most important rule is that there is no one strategy that works for all types of jobs, in all situations, in all regions, with all companies or with all individuals. Some of your strategy is going to have to vary with your sense of the circumstances and personalities involved – but there are still some basic principles to consider. My target audience is primarily professionals and executives in the Information Technology industry. Their handling of the salary issues is going to be different from the hedge fund manager on Wall Street or the retail cashier.

One of the most frequently advised strategies for answering about current salary is to avoid answering the question and state that you would want the company to offer a salary to you that is correspondence to your value to them and not your current compensation. That’s great in theory and, sure, it would be ideal if that’s what the prospective employer would do, but you risk alienating the interviewer, being labeled as evasive, and they will likely surmise that you must be really underpaid currently and that they should be able to take advantage of that.

I would recommend answering the question honestly – it’s better to have an opportunity to negotiate the best package possible over current compensation than to be screened out for having an “attitude” before you get a chance to get an offer.

When stating your current salary, be sure to know the exact annual number prior to the interview. You can multiply your hourly rate by 2080 to arrive at your annual compensation equivalent. Follow-up stating your salary with any mitigating factors, as explained by these examples:
- “and I am due for a salary review at the end of next month where I anticipate a raise of 4-8%”
- “and I receive an annual bonus that has averaged an additional 15% of salary”
- “and I am paid for overtime at 1 1/2 times my hourly rate, which I work a lot of, and will add about $8000 to my W2 this year”
- “and….”, state anything else you can think of that is an unusual and valuable benefit that you are unlikely to get at another employer. A large amount of vacation pay, stock grants or ownership, completely free health insurance might be some of the factors worth mentioning.

What you want to do is honestly answer their question, be labeled as upfront and direct, while building the best case possible for how the prospective employer should view your current salary. You would also want to point out to the interviewer if:
- your current company has had salary freezes in effect that have caused you to miss a raise cycle or more.
- you have worked at one company for a long time, which you feel has caused your compensation to fall behind the rest of the market.
- you’ve been working in a market with a lower cost of living than the prospective employer.
Or, anything else that you can think of that you feel makes a good case to explain why your current salary should be viewed as lower than it should be.

If the employer is asking you to complete a job application or fill out an on-line form that asks about current pay, you may not have the space, nor would it necessarily be appropriate to add many of the above circumstances – but you can state bonuses that have significant impact on your compensation. Even in a little box, you can write, “85K +7K bonus” or “92K w/bonus”.
Leaving the salary questions blank on the application or sidestepping it in the interview might work sometimes, but in other circumstances it might cause you to be screened out. Prepare properly to answer the question and provide the necessary additional information that will help the current employer to best compare what they might want to offer you.
Please add your ideas or questions as COMMENTS to this blog. Please return for my next blog that will explain the best way to answer about your salary requirements.

When To Take Back Your Two Weeks Notice

I just placed an individual that went through all the steps I recommend when giving notice to a current employer upon resignation.

1. He wrote a brief, to the point, resignation letter that stated his anticipated last day of employment as two weeks from the day the letter was presented
2. He presented the letter in person to his superior and in both the letter and verbally offered, “to do everything he could to help in the transition over his last two weeks”.
3. Both in the letter and directly he did not delve into the reasons he was leaving the company beyond stating that he’d found a better opportunity for his career.
4. Also, in writing and in person, let them know that he appreciated the opportunities that he’d had at the employer.

In most situations, your employer deserves this courtesy and respect. They have been paying you for your services and when it’s time for you to go work somewhere else, it is only professional to give them a fair time to help in the transition.

The individual I placed was immediately asked to give three weeks’ notice instead of two. He let them know that he’d committed to a start date with his new employer and wouldn’t be able to accommodate that request. Was he right to do that? Sure! It is fine for the employer to ask for 3 weeks, 4 weeks or six weeks, but two weeks is the business world standard and all that most resigning employees should agree to. The new company hiring you has priorities as well and two weeks is an accepted balance between commitment to help your previous employer and the new employer.

Well then things started to turn ugly for this person. His current employer presented demands and expectations for his performance in the last two weeks of his employment that exceeded what had previously been expected. They implied that if he didn’t meet these new goals, that there would be consequences, although they wouldn’t specify what. Several other things occurred that seemed to be grounded more in spite than any rational protection of the employer’s interests.

Two weeks’ notice is a professional courtesy – but in absence of a legally binding contract – is not mandatory. You always want to leave on good terms, whenever possible, as you would hope to get good references from the employer in the future of even be welcome to return to work there should you so desire (though that’s rarely a good idea). But if the employer is not also professional and courteous in handling of the situation and approaches the last two weeks in a vengeful and bitter spirit – then the two weeks’ notice courtesy should be revoked.

Perhaps beyond what was even deserved by the employer, our candidate sent an e-mail to the President of the company, a source of the much of the disconcerting behavior, and expressed that he’d like to have a smooth transition and stating that he’s glad to perform his job to the best of his abilities for the remaining two weeks, but expected to be treated by the same standards as before. When it became obvious that his mature handling of the situation wasn’t going to be matched on the employer’s side, then he informed them that his notice was now effective immediately and left the company.

Fortunately, we’d prearranged that he could start early at our client, so he only lost one days’ wages by leaving early. Our client was glad to have him early. If the previous employer had wanted a smooth transition during his resignation period, then they had an obligation to treat him right. When they didn’t do so, then they no longer deserved his commitment to help them in his final weeks there. You should put all your heart into your work in your last two weeks – always trying to leave a good impression, but if the company seems to just want to make you miserable, then you don’t have to put up with it.

Please share your resignation experience or questions as COMMENTS to this blog.

Too Many Job Changes vs. Not Broad Enough Exposure

Professionals in the Information Technology market are known for having a more frequent job changes than a lot of other careers. I’ve been reading IT resumes for over 20 years now and there is no question that it’s more common to see someone who has a different project and employer every six months or year than it is to see someone that has worked at the same company for twelve years.

In 1988, it was more likely that a candidate would be rejected by an employer because of “job hopping” because they had a couple of 2-3 year stints in a row, where now the norm is that someone who has spent 12 years at one company is more likely to be rejected because they don’t have a diversity of experience in different environments. Just as employers no longer promise a lifetime job or even a steady five years, the IT professional has to keep themselves mobile to keep up with the technology and have the experience that will make them valuable to the market.

Even with this shift in hiring attitude, it is still important to avoid the extremes and not change jobs too often as you can still raise a “red flag” if every 6 months is a different position at a different location. There are several rules that I feel are worth considering when evaluating your career or the resume of a prospective employee:

1) If you’re in a direct-hire position, then you shouldn’t be changing jobs as often as a consultant/contractor does. If you don’t see yourself staying at the company at least 3-5 years, then it may be that you should be looking somewhere else. You may end up places less than that period of time, especially with companies handing out more pink slips than bonus checks, but years of continuous 1-2 year direct-hire positions establishes a “job hopping” pattern, so when it’s your choice, try to select work places you can at least stay at for at least an intermediate length of time.

2) If you’re a consultant/contractor, then you are likely to be changing much more frequently – but you can add some stability to your experience by: seeking additional projects at the same client, staying with the same consulting firm for multiple project and client locations so they can be listed as one employer and date range on your resume; or when possible, look for projects that will run for a year or have higher potential for renewal. An employer, evaluating consultants, would be more likely to gamble on a consultant that has been asked back to other companies or has been consistently employed by the same consulting company.

3) There’s nothing wrong with staying at one employer longer than 3-5 years, if you can show strong career progression, promotion, training, learning of new skills, and exciting, state-of-the art, projects The mistake comes when someone stays at one company for years and years supporting an outdated technology, not learning anything new, and then they get laid-off. Don’t end up laid-off with a lack of skills that the market is demanding. If you can show stability and a range of exposure and the latest technical skills – then you’ll have multiple job offers in good economy and bad.

4) Another factor to balance is compensation. Often those who spend 10+ years at one company can have their salaries fall well beyond the market for their skills as annual 2-4% raises from a typical employer can’t keep pace with the normal salary inflation within a demanding IT marketplace. On the flip-side, if you change jobs too frequently just to get better salary offers and drive your salary at the high end of the market, employers are likely to pick up on the fact that money is your highest priority and question whether you are that committed to your craft.

Find the balance – it is probably better not to be, and better to be careful when hiring, someone that has had 20 jobs at 20 different companies in the last 12 years – and yes, there are plenty of people out there with credentials like this. At the same time, don’t become so scared of change that you miss out on the technology revolution supporting technology that was originally installed by previous generations. If all the tools your company is using are in five year old text books – then you better upgrade companies.

If you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments about this subject, please comment to this blog

Interview Preparation and Presentation – Covering Your Strengths

Interviewer: “What are your strengths?”
Interviewee: “Well, um… I… I… I am uh… well… “
OK, maybe you can wing it a little better than that – but when asked a predictable interview question that would seem to be critical to any hiring decision, you need to be ready with an intelligent and SUPPORTED response that comes off better than the response from a glazed over beauty contestant in the question portion of a pageant.

By preparing properly for this question, you will enhance your presentation on the interview, whether you are asked this question explicitly or not.

Several days before interviewing, open a blank document and write down what you feel are your three greatest strengths that have some relationship to the position that you are interviewing for. You need to keep it relevant without so tailoring the strength that it appears insincere. For example, if you’re interviewing for a Java Developer position, the strength of “Expert Snowboarder” might be hard to connect to the job while “Java Expert” might be a little too customized. Instead, “Learn Technology Quickly” or “Strong Software Development Skills” might be preferable.

For each strength that you put down, come up with two examples, on-the-job, that support that particular strength. The examples could be description of particular project accomplishments, citing what your supervisor or peer said about you, award or recognition that you received, quantified deliverable, or anything else that you can think of that supports your claim that you have the mentioned strength. By preparing in this way, you are able to not only recite your strengths in the course of the interview, but also supply a brief explanation as to why you think this is your strength. When evidence backs up your claim, the interviewer is going to feel that you have that strength and remember it.

Example: Interviewer: “What do you feel are your strengths?”
Interviewee: “Being reliable in meeting deadlines that I commit to is one of my strengths. For example, last spring I was on a project to develop a new data structure for an Oracle DataWarehouse and I was to have the project completed in one week but the user community came in with a number of changes in the requirements at the last minute. Rather than miss the deadline, I made a commitment to put in the extra time to get the project finished. The manager of the user department told my manager that he hadn’t expected the deadline to be met and was impressed by how committed I was to the project.”

If the interviewee had just said, “I am reliable at meeting deadlines” and hadn’t said why, then it would probably not be retained by the interviewer – but with the supporting evidence, the interviewer believes this candidate is reliable. Come up with two examples for each of the strengths – arming you with three strengths and at least six examples as you walk into the interview.

But what if they don’t ask what your strengths are? You wasted all that time? No! The interview is going to definitely come across points that parallel the strengths that you’ve thought of and the examples you’ve prepared and you can take that opportunity to volunteer your own strengths.

Example: Interviewee: “In mentioning that there would be several new business areas that I’ve not been exposed to before that I would need to learn coming into this job, I do think that learning new business processes and understanding the ‘big picture’ of business is a particular strength of mine. In fact, at my last company, we acquired a new company in Mexico that manufactured blow-molded plastics which has is a whole different process than the molded plastics that we’d worked with to that point. After spending five days on-site at the new facility, I was able to grasp the requirements and make the necessary recommendations for modifications to our ERP system to successfully adapt their processes with our present system. Our division head complimented me and put into my annual review that my efforts led to one of the smoothest integrations of acquired plants that we’d experienced”.

The interviewer may not have asked you for your strengths, but if you’ve done something similar to the above in the course of your interview – then you’re taking control of the interview and making sure that the information that is going to sell the company on you has come out. Maybe you don’t get to mention all your strengths or use all of your examples, but it’s never a problem to be over-prepared and you may get additional opportunity in subsequent interviews with the same corporation.

Good luck on your interview! Show them your Strengths. Please feel free to add your ideas or ask questions as COMMENTS to this blog.

Don’t Dance in the Interview – Answering Tough Questions Directly

The interviewer asks the interviewee a direct question about why they left their previous employer. The interviewee drops eye contact, looks towards the floor, says “Um… I… uh… well…” and the dance begins! Sure, questions on an interview can sometimes be uncomfortable to answer. Maybe you’ve never worked with the technology or skill they are asking about, maybe it hits on a “rough patch” of your career, maybe you don’t even understand the question, or know where to begin. But, tap dancing is for those aspiring to be on Broadway. The rest of us need to leave the tap shoes at home and go to the interview prepared to be direct in our answers, even the uncomfortable ones.

If you respond to the tough questions with evasion, vagueness, and explanations that don’t address what’s asked, then you’re going to leave the interviewer uneasy with your candidacy for the position and they will assume you are hiding something or don’t really have the experience required for the position. If instead, you are direct and forthright in your answers and in the very FIRST sentence following the question give them the information asked for, even if you feel the answer is possibly a negative response, you’ll score points for being honest with them. You then have an opportunity to further explain the situation, turn it into more of a positive light, or make a detraction become an opportunity for growth.

Interviewer: “Why did you leave Alpha Company?”
You: “I was terminated” (DIRECT ANSWER!) “I did not have as fully developed skills in web development as the position seemed to be requiring when I went to work there. I attempted to get my skills to the level needed by putting in extra training time, but their project backlog was so heavy and the manager was impatient with the progress. I believe a better suited position would rely more on my core skills with more training opportunities and mentoring.”

It’s not great being terminated, but if you’re honest about the reasoning and seem to be applying the lessons learned to your current career search, you are more likely to find the right job and impress the company with your ability to be honest.

Interviewer: “Do you have experience creating Web Services?”
You: “No, I have not. I have studied Web Services in the classroom and wrote some sample programs for the class using them, but have not had an opportunity to do so on the job. I do believe that I pick up new technologies quickly, in fact, at my last position I had gone in with no experience in using XML style sheets and I put in extra effort at home to read up and practice them and within a few days was successfully employing them on my project. I believe I can do the same learning Web Services techniques.”

Here we have taken a negative answer – been direct with it, and then turned it towards a positive light and an opportunity by demonstrating how we have overcame similar obstacles before and will do it again.

Interviewer: “State the significance of public, private, protected, default modifiers both singly and in combination and state the effect of package relationships on declared items qualified by these modifiers?”
(You’ve been asked a very difficult question that you don’t fully understand – rather than start dancing, be direct)
You: “I’m not sure that I understand the question, is there any other way to ask it?”
or You: “I have had limited exposure to these different types of modifiers, but I can attempt to answer as much of the question as I can. I believe that public modifiers are used for…” (Let them know you’re going to take your best shot at it, but know you might not be right-on… credit for trying)
or You: “Would you mind asking the first part of the question again and let me answer it and then cover the last part of the question”? (Break it down to make it easier to understand)
or You: “I don’t know the answer to that question. Frequently as a developer I can run up against things I haven’t learned yet and I always make sure to write down the problem and then, when I have a chance, I will go to reference texts, developer forums and other resources to learn the answer. I’ll make sure I know it for the next time – this is one of those situations.”
or You: “I can’t answer that question as I haven’t had experience with it. At the environments I’ve been working on, we have been employing a different technique instead by…. ” (and explain how you did things as an alternative)

There’s a lot of other ways to handle the situation of not having an answer, the point is, we’re direct in our answer and we try to turn it as positive as we can. If you don’t understand the question at all or have the experience to answer it, the interviewer will know it, so trying to bluff your way through is of no use. Sometimes you think you know the answer, but it’s a big mistake to go into a full explanation and find out you were heading the wrong direction and didn’t answer the correct questions.

Interviewer: Asks you a question you think you understand, but are not sure.
You: “By ________, do you mean _________” or “I believe you are looking for _______, is that correct?”

Interviewers will sometimes ask questions that are very broad and don’t provide much insight as to where you should start or what level of detail they are looking for.

Interviewer: “Tell me about yourself” or “Tell me about projects you’ve worked on”
You: “Sure, where would you like me to start?”
You could provide a brief overview and then ask what they’d like to know more about.
You: “I went to College at _____ and majored in ______. My first position was ____ at _____ and I worked with _____ and then I moved to _____” (… and so on through your career highlights) “Is there any of this that you’d like me to provide more detail on?” or “Are you interested in more specifics about anything in particular?”

We aren’t sure of where they want us to go, but rather than dancing all around, we give an overview and ask them to help us narrow it down. Again we are employing the technique of asking if we’re headed in the right direction before we go too deeply.

Good luck on your interviews and BE DIRECT! Feel free to add the toughest questions you’ve faced on interviews as comments to this blog and I’d be glad to respond as to how they might best be handled.