How to Answer the "TEAM" Interview Question

One of the most important criteria recruiters use to make hiring decisions is the concept of "organizational fit" Before we address this concept, "what is your idea of a great team"? This is where to begin. 

Do What You Have To Do To Move Forward

If you are comfortable where you are, you may be where you are a little while longer

Approaching your next employer with confidence

Almost every job candidate is a little nervous when approaching a potential employer. However, if you let this nervousness paralyze your confidence, you may not get hired.

Think of it like buying a product. Would you buy a product from a salesperson who tells you "I'm not 100% confident in the product that I'm about to sell to you but I want you to buy it anyway"? I'm sure you wouldn't! Its exactly the same with approaching your next employer. You are the salesperson, the product you are selling is your skills set and your potential buyer is your next target employer. The only way to get her to buy from you is to have confidence in your skills and communicate that confidence to her.

May be I know what you are thinking, "does that mean I have to exaggerate"? No, you do not have to exaggerate your skills. No one likes or buys from a lying salesperson either. If you exaggerate, you will only do it once. However, unless you speak well of your skills, no one would ever know that you have those those skills. It is your responsibility to convince your skeptical buyer that what you have to sell is authentic.

Don't we all have confidence? Yes, we are all born with confidence. However, as we advance in years, we may begin to loose confidence by the experience. A few things that can affect our confidence include disappointments from past experiences, lack of knowledge or skills for the job, lack of skills, poor personal grooming and lack of preparation. Here are a few steps you can take to approach your next employer with confidence 

How to build your confidence

1. Deal with disappointments. Job search can be a rather difficult task. It is disappointing to find nothing after a thorough search. It is even more disappointing when things go wrong with a job interview especially if you have been searching for long. Unpleasant supervisor or co workers from the past may also affect our self confidence. Basically, disappointment can come from anything that happened which you did not like as well as what you liked that did not happen. Truth is, everything you like to happen will not happen and you will not like everything that happen. So, it's good to keep those past unpleasant experiences where they belong-in the past. If you had the knowledge and skills but did not get that job, that potential employer may not necessarily be against you, they may just be for themselves or they just could not see how your skills would fit their picture. Refuse to let a disappointment rob you of your next job.

2. Acquire knowledge. Knowledge of the employer, position, qualifications and specific duties of the position are essential building blocks for confidence when approaching your next employer. Applying to an employer or for a position you know little or nothing about will rob you of self confidence. Take some time to study the employer and the position she is seeking to fill. You can never be confident talking about what you know little or nothing about. Your next employer has business goals and needs; you definitely want to know what these are. Some organizations will honour request for full position description. Ask your recruitment officer if they are willing to send you a copy of the job discription. Beside knowing your employer and the advertised position, you need to know your strengths, skills and personality. If it is job you are passionate about but do not have the required skills you may need to take active steps to develop the skills. You can develop new skills and build experience by volunteering in a similar position.

3. Prepare for the meeting. In addition to #2 above, you definitely want to meet your next employer prepared. Anonymous said, good preparation prevents poor performance. Preparation does not only refer to job interview; it covers everything from acquiring the skills to your first day on the job. You are well prepared to meet your next employer if you already know what you would be doing on the first day on your new job. Another aspect of preparation is dressing.

4. Dress for work. This may sound like a small matter but there is probably no better way to lose confidence that to feel you don't belong. Poor dressing can give you this feeling. You do not have to buy new clothes to impress your next employer. Seriously, I don't think a responsible employer would focus more on your looks than on your dressing unless of course dressing is a bonafide requirement for the job. However, a poor dress for a great occasion may speak negatively about you. What exactly is a good dress? A good dress is one that fits the job. You know you are dressed for work if you look like or slightly better dressed than the team you are aspiring to join. Dressing for work not only tells the potential employer that you know what the job entails and that you are ready for work, it also tells them that you value and respect them as well are yourself. Dressing for work says a lot about your sense of personal worth and it gives you an edge over others. 

When next you walk into the workplace  or office of a potential employer, fill the room with confidence and let them know that not hiring will be a mistake.

I wish you the very best in your job search. Let me know when you succeed!

Peter

envoypeter@yahoo.com

How to Answer the Interview Question: "Tell Me about a time...."

Behavioural interview questions are the trends. They bring out the the most accurate projection of a person's behaviour under a particular circumstance

How to Answer the Interview Question: Why Should I Hire You?

"Why should I hire you"? Your next interviewer may be well prepared to ask you this question. Yes, you are qualified and you have come a long way in the interview process but so are several other candidates. Knowing that you are only one in a pool of qualified candidates, why should your target employer hire you?  If you do not have a  unique selling proposition or if you are unable to convince your potential employer why you should be hired from the crowd, you may not be.

Here are some clues to help you respond to this question effectively

1. Know your unique selling proposition (USP). Everyone has it- one or more characteristics that make each of us stand out of the ballpark. Quite naturally your USP would have to be related to the position you are applying for. In your case it may be a list of successfully executed projects or positive attitude. You have an area where you feel 100% confident that you have the skill, knowledge or experience to carry out a particular task better than everyone else. Get hold of this area and communicate it effectively. It does not matter if there is another applicant that is better suited than you, everyone has a hot spot where our performance is optimum.

2. Address the employer's undisclosed fear. Yes, you are not the only one that is nervous. Much more than hiring the right person for the job, the recruiter wants to avoid hiring the wrong person.  So the non-verbal question the recruiter is really asking you is "demonstrate to me that I will not be making a mistake by hiring you". In my opinion, the best way to approach this sort of question is to go beyond 'why you are the right candidate for the job to' 'why they will be making a mistake not to hire you'. The success of your answer will depend on your ability to show the employer what problem you can solve for them.

3. Refuse to sit at the receiving end of the table. You are not a beggar; you are a problem solver. You are not just coming to the employer to receive a job offer, you are coming to offer something as well. So, it is better to respond to this question from a bargaining position. You may already know this but it is worth repeating: finding the right employee is as much a difficult task for the recruiter as finding the right job is for the job seeker. So once a recruiter finds an applicant who demonstrates that he or she is the right candidate for the job, the recruiter would have no business continuing the search. Help the recruiter end their search on time and land yourself that job by demonstrating to them that you are the candidate they have been searching for.

4. Support your argument with examples of what you have done in similar position. If two candidates answer the 'why should I hire you' question and one of them gives a real life example from past work while the other candidate gives only a hypothetical answer to the question, the one with real life example will get the job.

5. Ask relevant questions. The questions we ask determine the answers we get. Ask leading questions. For example asking your employer to describe the ideal candidate for the position can give a clue as to what the the employer is looking for. Once you know what your potential employer is looking for it is then up to you let your employer know how you fit into that picture. It is usually best to reserve this to the end of the interview

6. Go the extra mile. Yes, there are many qualified candidates but not all the qualified candidates will get the job because not all the qualified candidates will go the extra mile. Many will stop at a 'reasonable distance'. It is hard to notice a person in a crowd if that person is like everyone else and it is hard to not notice a person if that person distinguishes himself from everyone else. Wow your potential employer by raising the bar and going father than she expects. Unless it is not a job that you are passionate about, you would have the energy it takes to beat every odds till you cross the finish line.  You could do this by presenting samples of past projects with outstanding figures of success, drawing up a 30, 60 or 90 day plan for your new job, researching the company and providing a potential solution to their business need or opportunity to achieve their business objective. 

The Toxic Workplace: What You Can Do To Protect Yourself

It is yet to be verified but from a rough estimate, more people call in sick on Mondays than any other day of the work week. In some cases, people are truly sick but in other cases, they just simply dread going to work. Why do so many of us look forward to Fridays and dread Mondays? Is it possible to truly say TGIM- Thank God it's Monday just like we say TGIF -"Thank God It's Friday? What do you think?