Job Candidates: Enhance Your Chances Of Getting The Job!

How can you, a job candidate, enhance your chances of success at an interview. Remember that your objective in attending an interview is to get the job. You have to make sure that the interviewers are convinced that you are the ideal person for the job. You have to show them why you are better than the other candidates. In effect, you are actually going to ‘market’ yourself as the best person for the job.


Here are some points that you may want to consider.

Insist on meeting or talking with the hiring manager first, whenever possible

Whenever possible, try to insist on meeting the hiring manager first. The hiring manager is going to be your immediate superior in the new job. He would know the type of candidate that he is looking for, the experience and skills that he wants. The human resource department will not know as much as the hiring manager. If the hiring manager finds you suitable, you can talk to the human resource later.
Ask yourself this: would a HR person who is not in your area of work be able to understand fully what you are going to explain about your experience, skills and your work?

State your expectations

Try to ask for the agenda for the interview meeting. Even a verbal one over the telephone is better than none. You need to find out who the interviewers are, their designations, how they are related to the position that you are applying for? Is it just going to be the interview or more? If they are not at all related to the position that you are applying for, ask for the purpose of their presence in the interview. Use the reason that you would like to know so as to prepare yourself. It demonstrates your seriousness in the interview and the position.

Expect respect and set your standard

If the interviewers do not greet you, think cautiously before ever accepting another invitation from that company. That should let you have an idea of the employees in that company: lack of courtesy and respect for others. You have to set your standards high and be sure that the company that you are going to join has a high standard too. If not, do not waste your time.

Show respect to the interviewers

It is always a good practice to show respect to others, irrespective of who the other party is. You never know the influence the other party has over the recruitment decision. Or how closely you are going to work with the person (assuming that you get the job)? Finally, how you treat others reflects on you directly. So do set a high standard for yourself.

Do not ask about renumeration or benefits in the first interview.

Many great candidates make the serious mistake of asking about salary and benefits in the first interview. This is a serious mistake as it sends the wrong signal to the potential employer. The first interview is the opportunity for the interviewee to find out more about job, career prospects, the company, the expectation of the hiring manager and to ‘market’ the candidate.

Remember that no offer has been made yet. Asking about salary and benefits at that time is plain silly because you have not been offered the position! On the other hand, it signals to the potential employer that the interviewee is more interested in the money and personal gain, rather than how he can help the company. Asking such questions in the first interview is almost your guarantee not to get the job. Never, never, never do that.

Dress appropriately for the position

How you dress will depend somewhat on the position that you are applying for. At the same time, it makes sense to do some research on the organization. Or you may politely ask the person who calls you for the interview about the preferred dress code.

Some companies are more formal and they would expect at a long-sleeve shirt and a tie. For ladies, probably a skirt, blouse and a business jacket. If you the position is a sales position, where you are expected to meet clients, then it may be appropriate to dress up a little, such as putting on a business jacket. If the position is taking charge of the engineering department, even a long sleeve shirt without tie can be fine. It demonstrates to the interviewers that you are in tune with the position that you are applying for. That can be a good start.

Be prepared

Never attend an interview unprepared. That would be a sure recipe for failure. Put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes. Ask yourself: what is the interviewer looking for, what questions would he be likely to ask, what business is the company in, what are they famous for, why are you the best person for the position. Do your research. Check out the company’s website. Try to find out as much as you can about the company: from the web, newspapers, magazines, friends, employees, etc.

Listen

Many candidates make the mistake of ‘over-selling’ themselves such that it sounds rather ‘exaggerated’. True, an interview is where you would want to market yourself, to show why you are the best person for the job. But overdoing the process can be counter-productive. It makes the interviewer wonder if what you have said is true.

You should listen to what the interviewer has to say. Show respect to the interviewer. Understand what the interviewer is looking for and answer to the point. Be tactful and do not ‘hard-sell’ yourself.
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Do not talk bad about your current or previous employers

Whatever your reason for wishing to quit your present position, never talk bad about your current or previous employers. It is very discourteous to talk bad about anyone and reflects on yourself. Be objective. Do not be personal.


What are your opinions about this article? Do let us have your comments. Thanks.

Cheers,
The Singapore Headhunter,

Interviewer’s Role In An The Interview (Part II)

The interviewer should be as knowledgeable as the candidate.
Irrespective of the subject matter or objective of the interview, the interviewer should be as knowledgeable as the candidate. Make sure everyone coming to the interview (on your end) is prepared and knowledgeable. It must be emphasized that the first impression counts a lot.


Everyone interviewing the candidate should be prepared.
All members on your interview panel should be of such a caliber that they could fit into the position they were interviewing for. Interviewers of a lesser caliber would not add value to the interview and might send the wrong signal to the candidate.

Do not have follow-up interviews in mind.
The first impression counts a lot. A HR Assistant who is not an expert in the work of your department should not represent your organisation to the candidate. Like what we had said before, treat your candidate as a customer. Would you send a junior staff to meet a customer? Would you send someone who is not familiar about your company to meet a customer? Likewise, do not send someone from another department to interview your candidate as that is not going to add any value at all. Why let a Finance manager interview a Programmer about his career goals?


Your best team member for the interview.
When the time is suitable, introduce the candidate to his peers. Your goal is to assess the candidate and to establish your credibility. Only the team member who can impress the candidate and can hold his own should be in the introduction meeting. The selected team member should be a motivated employee. Do not put him into the front line if he is not.

You are interviewing to recruit top talent, not to talk.
Many a times, an interviewer mis-manages the interview by talking about himself, his goals, etc, etc. Or, he spends the time interrogating the candidate about the past or the future. All these might be important topics, but not until the key issue is addressed: the work.


Step back and ask yourself this: If the candidate passes your personality and credential tests, would you offer him the job if you found out he could not do the work properly? The answer is obvious. Find out if the candidate can do the work first. The rest can be established later.

It is common that managers sometimes avoid detailed discussion of the work content because they themselves do not really know enough of it to discuss. A head-count is approved so someone has to be recruited, but no one is clear about why. Sounds familiar?


Before the interview, be prepared. Make sure you understand the purpose of the position and the work content in detail. Otherwise do not interview the candidate or that might reflect badly on you and your organization.

A job candidate is an invited guest to be treated like a customer.
Recruiting and interviewing are not an administrative process. This is a highly skillful social art: the art of influence a top talent to join you and your team. You have to do it responsibly. You must constantly focus on the state of the candidate. Is he warming up? How is he reacting? Is he opening up? Does he look enthusiastic? You are responsible for what the candidate thinks; as that depends on how well you have managed the interview.

Do you have any comments on this article? Share your thoughts and comments with us.

Cheers,

The Singapore Headhunter,

Do You Have Any Interesting Encounters With Headhunters?

Some lucky people get calls from headhunters regularly. Some will contact headhunters to look for possible career opportunities while some will be using headhunters to fulfil their vacancies.


So, do you have any interesting experiences to share with us? Tell us: What do you like about the headhunters? What do you dislike about the headhunters?



It would be good to hear from you.





Cheers,
The Singapore Headhunter