What NOT To Say In Your Next Job Interview

1. “I hated my previous manager.” Nothing will turn your interview in a bad direction faster than sharing ill will for your former employers, bosses, or coworkers. You’ll immediately be pegged as unable to work well with others, unloyal, and immature--none of which will position you for taking your career to the next level.

Don’t fall into the trap of badmouthing others when you’re asked about potentially negative experiences. Instead, focus on presenting the situation in a positive light and express what you learned from your experience. For example, you and your manager may have initially had communication problems, but present the situation in such a way that it demonstrates your ability to learn to adapt to the communication styles of others.

2. “I see this company tripling its revenue under my guidance.” Don’t make the mistake of showcasing a vision for your position or the company that doesn’t align with the current company culture or mission. While it’s great to come in with strong ideas, if they lack the necessary research and understanding of the company, you’re bound to be passed over for the position.

During the interview, you may be asked what you can bring to the position or company as a whole. Be sure your vision aligns with the company’s. If you’ve misstepped, carefully present a more relevant idea in the direction they reference.

3. “I’ve won three national awards.” Contrary to popular belief, employers don’t want to hear about your personal successes. They want to hear what you can do for the company. To avoid sounding like you’re reading your resume verbatim, inform your interviewer of your previous experiences by adding on information of how you can directly benefit the company because of your accomplishments. As an example, you may have successfully brought on 50 new clients in your time with your previous company--use this as a segue into how you plan to increase sales for your potential employer.

4. “I really don’t have any weaknesses.” Everybody has shortcoming. Ignoring yours will only make your interviewer roll their eyes. If you’re asked to share your weaknesses, choose a quality to share that isn’t central to the position you’re applying for. Make sure to address your weakness and share how you’ve learned from it to improve for the future. This shows your ability to learn from your mistakes and grow.

5. “You’ll never find another manager as great as I am.” Sure, confidence may land you an interview, but advancing your career requires a sense of humbleness. You may have accomplished a lot during your career, but you to find a way to present your experiences without a know-it-all demeanor. If you feel like you’ve come off a little arrogant, note the help you had from a great team of employees or your administrative assistant.

6. “No, I don’t have any questions.” Ending an interview without asking any questions is a red flag for an interviewer. Why hire someone who isn’t even interested in getting a few of their company-related questions answered? Prepare questions before your interview regarding any questions you have about the position, company culture, mission, or employees experiences at the company.

If you leave your interview without asking questions, email your interviewer as soon as you get home to thank them for their time and also inform them of a question you thought of after leaving the interview.

7. “I left the company on amicable terms.” Lying won’t land you anywhere but the rejection pile--but somehow 53 percent of resumes and job applications contain falsifications. If you plan on embellishing your experiences or accomplishments during your interview, just know that your employer will find out. It’s better to err on the side of honesty during your interview, rather than getting blacklisted by the employer for lying.

8. "Who are your customers, again?” If you don’t have time to research the company or your potential position, don’t bother showing up. This not only wastes the time of the employer, but also presents you as lazy. If you’re truly looking to advance your career, you’ll know the ins and outs of every company you send your resume to.

[Full article here]

7 Modern Day Ways To Leave A Lasting Impression

Dale Carnegie wrote a fantastic book back in 1936 that really spelled out How to Win Friends and Influence People, and in my view it was so successful and continues to be successful because it contains such a lot of common sense about treating others how we ourselves like to be treated.

Unfortunately, we sometimes forget our common sense due to work and other pressures, and times have changed a little too, so I have put together a quick list with a few examples of both "old" and modern day areas to focus on to leave a lasting impression and be remembered for the right reasons.

1. Pay someone a compliment

If there is a genuine reason to pay someone a compliment, make their day and tell them. The person wearing a great shirt or a nice perfume will always appreciate a positive compliment, and that compliment will stay with them all day. I wear the best shoes I can afford and they get noticed, very often making the topic of conversation.

2. Say thanks often

Show your appreciation by saying thanks when someone holds the door open for you, or goes out of their way to do something. When did you last thank your partner for being awesome or your staff for doing a great job? Appreciation is one of the main drivers for someone staying committed in a relationship or job, don't forget to tell them.

3. Give generously

If you are not the type to get stuck in when manual labor is needed, how else can you give generously? A fellow Rotarian who didn’t have the time for the physical work, gave his expertise generously instead, allowing the club and other charities to benefit from his experience and knowledge.

4. Do what you say you will

Don’t let others think badly of you by not doing what you said you will, even the smallest of things, someone may well be relying on you.

5. Smile

I am a big believer in this. The chap that held the door open for me with a beaming smile made me feel like a princess. How can you pass on such great feelings to others to make their day?

6. Use their name

What was the name of the barista that made your coffee this morning? Next time you order, thank them as usual and follow up with their name, it will be noticed. Using their name really is Dale 101, “the single sweetest sound in any language is a person’s name”.

7. Follow up

The drain layer that came to give me a quote didn’t follow up until 2 months after he visited. Needless to say, someone else did the job and he lost out. Do you follow up 100% of the time in a timely manner before your competitor gets in? You will stand out just by following up every time because so few people do it.

by Linda Coles [read original here]

How to Interview Your Hiring Manager

When it comes to being interviewed, many candidates naturally are nervous, thinking over what questions they’ll be asked and making sure they are selling themselves in the interview. And similarly, the people doing the interviewing often forget that they not only need to be sold on the candidate but they also need to sell the role they’re hiring for. I’ve found more often than not, candidates neglect to “interview the company” they are meeting with and find out whether the organization is a good fit for them.

The fact is, our greatest and most valuable asset is our human capital. The way we invest that capital is up to us, and it is a responsibility we should not take lightly. Why invest your greatest asset in a company that won’t give you the best return? This is not about compensation at all; it is about the ability to do one's best work and grow as a professional. A bad decision on investing one's skills can lead to the biggest loss, which is unrecoverable – lost time! My grandfather used to remind me always that “time and tide” wait for no one. The opportunity to do great work that is lost because of a bad decision is too big to not take seriously.

In the end, you have to manage your career objectively. When you go on an interview, you need to interview your hiring manager and assess the company you are about to bet on, just as seriously as they’re interviewing you. Then very thoughtfully make the best investment of your talents.

Taking a new job always presents a risk – you are coming out of your comfort zone where you presumably have a certain level of security and influence. But a new role often presents opportunities to stretch yourself, make new connections and expand your knowledge. And most importantly, contribute to your industry at a greater level. When you face these decisions you have to have a clear vision on how you want to invest your stock.

To find out how the potential employer will invest in you, ask questions that get at the heart of what you’re looking for in your next role. Determine if the hiring manager has a clear and specific vision for the role. Is there consistency around the true north of the organization amongst all the people you are talking to? Is the company or team structured in a way that you can learn and grow? Are they asking insightful questions, or regurgitating generic interview questions that don’t really let them know what you’re about? You have to dig deeper about the role and structure to find out if this job will make your stock rise over time.

And don’t forget - the interview starts the moment you arrive in the parking lot. Look around – are the people engaged? Excited? Are you seeing employees passionately discuss topics, or are they closed off? Pay attention to the little cues you see while you’re there to get a sense if this would be a place that will raise your stock. And always research the company in great depth before you make your final decision. Read analyst reports, browse their job site, look at age of open jobs, find those in your extended network who may have insight into the company culture. Just as you wouldn’t invest your money in a stock without researching it in great depth, don’t invest your human capital in a company without a lot of due diligence.

Learning the skill of interviewing a hiring manager will in the end net you the best opportunities in your career.

Read post by Rajat Taneja in its original format here.

Workplace fashion Dos and Don'ts

Straighten up!

Weak or Powerful: How Does Your 

Posture Make You Seem?

Practicing your posture before a big meeting may sound silly, but scientists have found that how your stand has dramatic effects on your mood and therefore how you are perceived.

If you came into the bathroom one day to find a colleague standing in front of the mirror, hands on hips, shoulders spread wide, doing her best impression of Wonder Woman about to save the world, your first thought would probably be to back out slowly.

But the truth, according to scientists, is that your silly-looking colleague may be on to something not silly at all. Practicing certain "power postures" can actually have outsized effect on mood and confidence and thus on the impression you make on others.

An in-depth post covering research on and advice around body language on the buffer blog recently highlighted a TED talk by Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddythat explains the biology and impact of body language.

"Cuddy distinguishes between two different types of body postures. One are powerful poses, and their counter part are powerless ones," buffer's Leo Widrich writes, adding that the difference between the two "goes a lot further than to just change the positioning of your legs or arms. Cuddy explains that inside our bodies, actual changes are happening as our body language changes. These changes largely have to do with hormones."

Power poses, where we spread our bodies wide or lean back in a relaxed, open manner, actually raise testosterone, which it turns out, significantly changes your demeanor. How do we know? Cuddy not only measured hormone levels but also asked research subjects to perform power or powerless poses before interviewing for a job. Those that used power poses prior to the interview were consistently rated more favorably by recruiters asked to evaluate them.

What's the takeaway of all this? If you have a big meeting coming where you need to impress, it might be worth your while to spend a couple of minutes practicing power postures beforehand. OK, it'll probably feel pretty silly, but science says it will boost your confidence, so if you're interested in giving it a try, check out buffer for images of the postures.

And you don't have to take one blog's word for the effectiveness of changing your body language. It's a big theme of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In as well. In it she urges women especially to focus on using their body language to convey confidence and power.

-Jessica Stillman, inc.com [original article]

7 Signs That You've Lost Your Audience

By Gretchen Rubin

Like most people, I have several pet subjects – that may or may not be interesting to other people. Don’t get me started on happiness, or habits, or children’s literature, or Winston Churchill, unless you really want to talk about it.

By noting how I behave when I’m trying to hide my own boredom, I came up with a list of indicators that I might be boring someone:

1. Repeated, perfunctory responses. A person who says, “Oh really? Oh really? That’s interesting. Oh really?” is probably not very engaged. Or a person who keeps saying, “That’s hilarious.”

2. Simple questions. People who are bored ask simple questions. “When did you move?” “Where did you go?” People who are interested ask more complicated questions that show curiosity, not mere politeness.

3. Interruption. Although it sounds rude, interruption is actually a good sign, I think. It means a person is bursting to say something, and that shows interest. Similarly…

4. Request for clarification. A person who is sincerely interested will need you to elaborate or explain. “What does that term mean?” “When exactly did that happen?”

5. Imbalance of talking time. I suspect that many people fondly suppose that they do eighty percent of the talking because people find them fascinating. Sometimes, it’s true, a discussion involves a huge download of information; that’s a very satisfying kind of conversation. In general, though, people want to add their own opinions, information, and experiences. If they aren’t doing that, they may just want the conversation to end faster.

6. Body position. People with a good connection generally turn fully to face each other. A person who is partially turned away isn’t fully embracing the conversation. I pay special attention to body position when I’m in a meeting and trying to show (or feign) interest: I sit forward in my chair, and keep my attention obviously focused on whoever is speaking, instead of looking down at papers, gazing into space, or checking my phone (!).

Along the same lines, if you’re a speaker trying to figure out if an audience is interested in what you’re saying:

7. Audience posture. Back in 1885, Sir Francis Galton wrote a paper in 1885 called “The Measurement of Fidget.” He determined that people slouch and lean when bored, so a speaker can measure the boredom of an audience by seeing how far from vertically upright they are. Also, attentive people fidget less; bored people fidget more. An audience that’s upright and still is interested, while an audience that’s horizontal and squirmy is bored.

I also remind myself of La Rochefoucauld's observation: “We are always bored by those whom we bore.” If I’m bored, there’s a good chance the other person is bored, too. Time to find a different subject.

How to Juggle Multiple Job Interviews

by Alan Carniol, founder of InterviewSuccessFormula.com

We often hear of job seekers struggling to land interviews. However, what if you’re one of the lucky ones to be offered multiple job interviews with different companies?                                      

Though you are in a good position, you may slip up since there is so much on the table. For instance, you could mix up company values. You may forget important documents. You could even accidentally name drop an executive at one of the other companies. All of these don’t represent you as the awesome candidate you are — and they certainly don’t help your chances.                           

However, juggling multiple interviews shouldn’t be seen as added stress. They should be used as an opportunity to steer your interviewing experiences in the right direction. Check out these tips to make it happen.                            

Create a plan
Mapping out how you’re going to succeed in your interviews is important. Establishing a tentative “interview plan” can help you to avoid any mix ups. Creating a simple spreadsheet or completing a worksheet that lists dates, times, interviewer background and basic company information can keep your interviewing experiences in check and separate from one another.                             

Noting some talking points for each interview can also be written in your plan. For instance, if a company had a recent merger, you can plan to discuss this with the interviewer. Or, if you are also interviewing with a rival company that sees this merger as a threat, you can offer them an alternative perspective. Without the necessary research and planning process, there’s a large chance you may make a mistake and damage your interviews. Creating a plan helps you avoid this.

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6 Questions to Ask During Your Interview That Will Make an Employer Want to Hire You

[full article here]

1. If I were to start tomorrow, what would be the top priority on my to-do list?

The answer to this question will give you more insight into the current state of the position, while the question shows that you’re invested and interested in learning how you can start things off with a bang. The added bonus lies in the Jedi mind trick: now you’ve already got your interviewer picturing you as the position holder.

2. What would you say are the top two personality traits someone needs to do this job well?

The answer to this will be very telling. “Creative” and “intuitive” can be translated to mean you will be on your own, while “patient” and “collaborative” could mean the opposite. Not only will this question allow you to feel out whether you’re going to be a good fit; it will also get your interviewer to look past the paper resume and see you as an individual.

3. What improvements or changes do you hope the new candidate will bring to this position?

This answer can shed light on what might have made the last person lose (or leave) the job, and it also tips you off on the path to success. Asking this shows an employer you are eager to be the best candidate to ever fill this position.

4. I know this company prides itself on X and Y, so what would you say is the most important aspect of your culture?

This type of question is sure to impress, as it shows that you’ve done your research on the company and gives you a chance to gain insight into what values are held to the highest ideal.

5. Do you like working here?

This question might take interviewers back a bit, but their answer will be telling. A good sign is a confident smile and an enthusiastic “yes” paired with an explanation as to why. If they shift in their seat, look away, cough and start with “Well…”, consider it a red flag.

Regardless of their answer, employers appreciate getting a chance to reflect on their own opinions, and this turns the interview process into more of a conversation.

6. Is there anything that stands out to you that makes you think I might not be the right fit for this job?

Yes, asking this question can be scary, but it can also be beneficial. Not only does it give you a chance to redeem any hesitations the employer might have about you; it also demonstrates that you can take constructive criticism and are eager to improve—valuable qualities in any candidate.

Healthcare IT Headlines - TMG FEB Newsletter

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The Short ANSWER to "The Most Important Interview Question of All Time"

--Lou Adler

In a lively blog post last week, I suggested that the following was the most important interview question (MIQ) of all time:

What single project or task would you consider the most significant accomplishment in your career, so far?

Within 48 hours, 125,000 people attempted to answer the question following the set of follow-up questions provided. It takes about 15 minutes to fully understand the accomplishment. When you try it out, you'll be amazed at how much you've revealed about yourself and your abilities. You'll also you'll discover the answers can't be faked, unless you take a shortcut.

(Note: I’ll be holding an informal webcast on Friday, January 25, 2013 at 10:30AM PT, reviewing this QUESTION, how to properly evaluate the ANSWER, and demostrate why all of your "better" questions have hidden flaws.)

From a practical strandpoint, without knowing what job is being filled, there's really no correct answer to this MIQ. To get part of the correct answer, you need to ask the hiring manager this first: What's the most important project or task this person needs to handle in order to be considered successful?

You need specific details to fully understand the scope of the job, but at least now you can compare the person's biggest accomplishment to this benchmark to determine if the person is too heavy, too light, or a possible fit. Now we're getting close to the correct answer. You can then dig deeper with those who are possible hires by asking the candidate the same MIQ question for 3-4 different accomplishments spaced out over the past 3-10 years. This reveals the person's long term trend line of growth and performance.

continued here

6 Ways to Ace the Phone Interview

Play the part

When you pick up the phone, pretend you’re in a face-to-face interview. Even though you could be in your pajamas lounging on the couch, wear business attire and practice good posture. You can even sit in front of a mirror and watch yourself. Your professionalism will transmit through the phone.

 

Act naturally

Some people come across as unenthusiastic over the phone because they can’t use body language to show who they are. Just because you’re on the phone doesn’t mean you need to be still and quiet. If you’re an animated talker in person, use your hands while speaking. Stand up if you feel more comfortable, and don’t forget to smile.

Stay out of Starbucks

Make sure you’re in a quiet spot to conduct the interview. If you’re on your cell, be sure to have good reception. If you’re on a landline, don’t do the dishes or check e-mail. Focus on the call and questions.

Get off the computer

Have a hard copy of your resume in front of you. You may also want written copies of your questions and the research you did on the company. Paper documents may be “old school,” but clicking your keyboard during the interview will send a “not interested” signal. You may be checking the company’s service offerings, but your interviewer could think you’re updating your Facebook status.

Listen up

Since you won’t have the advantage of reading the interviewer’s body language, your listening becomes paramount. Focus on the questions and make sure you understand them before you answer. You may also want to wait a beat after the interviewer speaks so you don’t interrupt.

Practice

Anticipate the questions you’ll be asked and rehearse your answers. If you’re usually chatty, practice curbing your responses. Typical phone interviews last 20 to 30 minutes. Use the time to impress the hiring manager with your skills, not talk about the weather.

View the original here.