Clue Wagon » Job Interviews

One More Question to Ask the Interviewer

Kerry Scott — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:08:41 +0000

I didn’t really have a post written for today.

See, we’re supposed to be having this giant snowstorm today. There was supposed to be, like, a foot of snow. They’ve been hyping it for days on TV. So somehow my brain heard, “Snow Day!” This really makes no sense, since you can’t really have a snow day when you blog. I mean, it doesn’t snow on the internet. Apparently my brain does not understand the internet. Either that or I’m just lazy.

So today I woke up, and there’s exactly one inch of snow slush outside my window. One inch is less than a foot, so I’m pretty sure there’s not going to be a snow day here an Clue Wagon headquarters (although we’re expecting more later…but less than a foot. More like 3-6 inches. Further inland they’re getting way more than a foot, with blizzard conditions to boot…so mad props if you live north or west of Milwaukee. I’m really close to Lake Michigan, so it’s still rain and not snow here.).

So I went through my Google Reader looking for inspiration. Lo and behold, Alison Green at Ask a Manager has the best question EVER for when the interviewer says, “Do you have any questions for me?” It’s perfect, because it sound smart when you ask it, and it also gives you great insight for what to talk about when you write your thank-you note. Brilliant. You should definitely add this to your list of questions to ask.

I’m off to make chocolate Malt-O-Meal with vanilla ice cream…because the missing 11 inches of snow is not going to screw me out of my delicious snow day breakfast treat.

Photo by midweekpost

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

Here’s An Easy One: Be Prepared

Kerry Scott — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:53:53 +0000

A few weeks ago, I was cleaning out out the closet in my office when I came across some of my supplies from a previous life. I used to be an HR consultant, and most of the work I did during that period wasn’t really consulting. Instead, I served as an interim or ad hoc HR director. I swooped in, acted like I worked there for real, and then left when they didn’t need me anymore.

One of the interesting things about that kind of work is that you never know where you’ll be sitting. In some cases, I had a posh office. In others, I was in a hallway, a lunchroom, or the cubicle where they kept the fax machine. I never knew whether I’d have even basic supplies. So I put together a little office kit, so that I had everything I’d need no matter what. I had a little portable hanging file folder box, and in the top there were compartments for paper clips, staples, sticky notes, etc. Then I had this accordion-style thing that folded out and hung on a wall or door. I used my label maker to turn the top slot into an IN box, and then had the others labeled with “waiting for reply,” “calls to make,” and so forth.

I originally put this whole system together to help me get up and running more quickly at each location, and to give me a consistent system and set of tools to work with. Later, though, I found out that the real benefit was the effect on clients. It blew their minds. You would be amazed at how people respond when they see that you’re organized and prepared. I got some of my business from referrals, and each time, the new client mentioned that the old client said I was so freakishly organized that I had a traveling office, and that that made them think I could solve problems. It’s funny how people form opinions on little things like that.

You can use this same technique in job interviews. When you show up, have extra copies of your resume. If you’re interviewing for the sort of job where they’re going to hand you a paper application, have a neatly-typed list of all of your old jobs, with addresses, phone numbers, and everything else laid right out. Have a file folder with their company name on it, and when they say, “Do you have any questions for us?” you can whip out a typed list of questions, with spaces for you to take notes on the answers.

The effect is amazing. It shows that you’re organized, businesslike, and interested enough in the job that you actually put some effort into your prep.

A little window dressing can go a long way in setting you apart from the crowd. In can also make you feel more confident in the interview. Those are two good things.

Photo by jo-h

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

10 Ways to Prepare For a Phone Interview

Kerry Scott — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:31:33 +0000

This post originally appeared on April 6, 2009.

Companies are receiving a huge number of resumes for most openings these days. Many have also cut their recruiting staff significantly. As a result, they’re struggling to keep up with the deluge of candidates for open positions. One way companies quickly screen a large volume of candidates is to conduct phone interviews. This allows them to talk to more people who look reasonably qualified, while screening out the freaks. Since you’re not a freak (because all of my readers are fabulous), this is a good thing for you and the company. More people screened means that the odds are greater that you’ll be one of the people who at least gets a chance to talk to a human and show off your fabulosity.

For some people (especially those who haven’t looked for a job for a while) phone interviews are new thing, and they can be a little intimidating. Here are some survival tips:

Find out how long the interview should take. When the recruiter sets up the interview, she should tell you how long it will take. If she doesn’t, ask. That will allow you to plan (obviously), but it’ll also give you some sense as to how deep the questions are going to be. If it’s 20 minutes, they really ARE just making sure you’re not a freak, gathering some very basic information, and getting the deal-breaker stuff out of the way. If it’s an hour, then you should treat it like a regular interview (more on that next week).
Make sure it’s quiet. This is a tough one for me. I’m home with a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old, and the only way to make them simultaneously quiet would involve duct tape. I’m pretty sure that’s a no-no. I try to schedule phone calls for naptime, and I keep some really fantastic art project ready in case the oldest wakes up. It goes without saying that you should turn off the TV, the radio, the ringer on the cellphone if it’s nearby, etc.
Use a real phone. If I had a dollar for every candidate who’s hung up on me by using a cellphone that dropped the call, my Clue Wagon would be a Clue Porsche. It’s also harder for some people to hear on a cellphone, and this is one occasion where you want to be heard as clearly as possible. If you MUST use a cellphone, make sure there’s no wind blowing (that’s really noisy on the other end), and don’t ever conduct a phone interview while driving. It makes it look like you don’t care enough about the job to even pull over (not to mention the whole safety thing, on which I could rant all day).
Disable the call waiting. If the interviewer is calling you, and the call waiting beeps, don’t even THINK of answering it. You’re in a job interview, and you don’t interrupt a job interview to take a more important call.
Have a copy of your resume in front of you. It’s awkward when the interviewer refers to something on your resume, and you can’t remember exactly what it said. If you applied from a job posting, have a copy of that in front of you as well.
Change your clothes. I actually think this is a little goofy, but I know otherwise smart people who swear that their job interviews are more successful when they dress up for them. If it works for you, great. Another technique some people use is to do the interview in front of a mirror, to ensure they’re smiling and professional and so forth. My mirror is in the bathroom, so I’d be a little concerned about the echo-y sound, but whatever floats your boat is fine. The goal is to project a polished, professional, confident image, and you should use whatever tools allow you to do that.
Don’t smoke. When you smoke on the phone, your breathing sounds funny. It’s weird. It also make you seem very nervous. Wait until it’s over.
Pace yourself. For some reason, shy candidates seem to clam up even more in phone interviews, and chatty candidates seem to run on even longer. I think the lack of visual cues really throws people off as to whether to talk more or less. If you’re giving an answer that’s only a few words (unless that’s clearly what the question requires), beef it up. If you’re talking for 11 minutes straight, you need to be way more succinct (seriously, I had this guy whose shortest answer was ELEVEN MINUTES). For most open-ended interview-type questions (the type that start with, “Tell me about a time…”) 2-4 minutes is a good target.
Prepare some questions of your own. The depth of your questions should be proportional to the length of the interview. For a 20 minute screen, just a couple of questions should do it, unless they’ve been really cryptic about the job or something. If you’ve spent an hour on the phone, they should spend some time answering more questions for you. Keep in mind that the screener is usually an HR person, not the hiring manager, so you’ll want to save your deepest and best questions for the person who is actually doing the hiring. Your last question should always be about what’s going to happen next: What’s the next step in this process? When should I expect to hear back? When should I follow up if I haven’t heard anything? You’ll be glad you asked these things during the long wait after the call ends.
Relax. It’s just a phone screen. This is hard to remember when you really, really need a job. Phone screens are just that, though: screens. Truly, they’re just making sure you’re not a freak, a jerk, or completely unaware of what the job entails. Don’t get overly excited, and don’t put too much stock into it. Consider it a good practice run for your next real interview.

Photo by foundphotoslj

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

8 Questions to Ask in a Job Interview

Kerry Scott — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:00:54 +0000

Do you have any questions for me?

Most interviewers will ask this at the end of each interview. The correct answer is always, “Yes.” There’s nothing more pathetic than a candidate who doesn’t have a single question about the job.

Sometimes people ask me what they should ask the interview. I’ve already talked about some things you shouldn’t ask. These are the questions I always ask when I’m being interviewed for a job:

Why is the position open? How long has it been open? Getting some insight into what happened before this is key. If they’ve gone through seven people in the past two years in this role, you need to know that going in. If it’s been open for six months, that might tell you something about their ability to make decisions, about whether they really need someone in this job if they’ve been functioning that long, and about how big the mess will be when you start working. I always want to know why there aren’t internal candidates for the position as well, because sometimes there ARE internal candidates, and if you get the job over them, dealing with them is going to be a challenge. Other times, there are no internal candidates because they have a lousy team, or because they have some great people but are too dumb to know it, or because their expectations are completely unrealistic, or because the boss is a weenie and everyone internal already knows that. Listen for clues.
What would you want me to achieve in the first 3/6/12 months? I always like to get a sense of what their priorities are. Sometimes I agree with the direction they’ve chosen, and sometimes I don’t…but I need to know that going in as well.
What kind of people are really successful here? What kind of people fail? There are lots of ways to get some insight into the culture of a company. This is one of them. Once I asked this question and heard, “People who don’t respect traditional ways of doing things and always want to try new stuff usually don’t do well here. Also, people who just blurt things out instead of being circumspect and working through back channels usually crash and burn fast.” Frequent readers of this blog can probably guess how well I would have done in that company.
What’s your pet peeve in an employee? This is a great question to ask your potential boss. You may save each other a lot of grief.
Why do you like working here? I ask this of every single person who interviews me, and I look for themes in the answers. I’ve interviewed with companies where a surprising number of people had trouble answering, which is a huge red flag. I’ve seen others where people at different levels or in different departments had very different answers. This is all helpful in determining whether the job is a fit.
How do you like to communicate with people? How do you let them know how they’re doing? This is another question for your potential boss. I’ve found it very helpful for making sure I have a good fit—something that’s very important to me, because I’ve learned that while I can put up with all kinds of company dysfunction, I can’t work well for a boss I don’t like. I need to make sure up front that we’re going to have compatible communication styles. I also need to make sure I never work for someone who lets me know how I’m doing via formal performance reviews, because that drives me crazy. If you can’t come in and tell me immediately when I rock or suck or something, I can’t work for you.
What are the next steps? This question serves two purposes. First, it tells you what is supposed to happen next, so that when you go home and obsess, you know what to obsess about. Second, it gives you some insight to how they make decisions in this company. If they need to you to interview with 15 more people, and eight of those people belong to the parent company rather than the subsidiary you’re actually interviewing for (true story), that’s a clue.
What’s your time frame? Never leave without asking this. That way you know when to follow up (but you should add one week to whatever they say, because they’re never on time).

What questions do you like to ask in job interviews?

Photo by Stefan Baudy

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

5 Ways To Handle Inappropriate Job Interview Questions

Kerry Scott — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Every so often you get an interview that goes horribly wrong. They start asking you questions that are inappropriate, or offensive, or are so stupid that you have trouble not making a face. There are a few ways you can go in this situation:

Answer the question. In a lot of cases, the interviewer doesn’t mean anything nefarious. I had an interviewer start off the interview with, “So, do you have kids?” I said I did, and we spent the entire interview time talking about our kids. He wasn’t trying to discriminate or pry…he just didn’t know how to conduct an interview. Since he was to be a peer of mine in this job, that wasn’t a big deal for me (in fact, that’s why they needed an HR person). Depending on the question and the person asking, sometimes just going with the flow is okay.
Answer the REAL question. Sometimes people are trying to find out something legitimate, and they just don’t know how to ask. If someone says, “Are you a U.S. citizen?” they might really just want to know if you’re authorized to work here. You can answer with “I’m authorized to work in the U.S.”
Ask them a question. Sometimes saying “Why do you ask?” (in a curious tone, not a defensive one) is a good strategy. You can figure out whether they’re jerks or not, and you can also find out what their issues are. Once, someone asked me, “Are you planning to have children soon?” I asked why they wanted to know, and I spent the next ten minutes hearing about all of the women they’d hired who had gotten pregnant and failed to return after the baby was born. It seemed statistically unlikely to me that THAT many woman could even afford to stay home after the baby, so I asked around. It turned out that this was the sort of place that you wouldn’t want to go back to on Monday, let a long after a baby. Most of them had gotten jobs elsewhere and just hadn’t told them. That’s good information to have about a potential employer. I saved myself a lot of grief.
Flip it around. This works best for HR people, but I think you could do this if you were interviewing for any sort of management job. I’ve had one or two interviews where I’ve been asked something so covered with red flags that I said, “Oh, I see. You’re testing my knowledge of employment law. Don’t worry, I would NEVER ask a candidate a question about their [religion, sexual orientation, whatever]. Then look at them. Blink if you must, but say nothing else. If they claim it’s a legitimate question, act shocked. You’re very unlikely to get the job if you use this technique, but if it’s so bad that you’re itching to shut it down so you can leave, this will usually do the trick.
Leave. I’ve only done this once. Long before I was in HR, I interviewed for an administrative job with a religious organization. It had been a blind ad, and when they called me, I made it clear that I was not of the same faith. They still wanted me to come in, and I needed a job, so I went. The manager who interviewed me was great, but the next one was the office manager, and she was so hostile and nasty regarding my religious beliefs that I finally said, “I think I’d better go.” I picked up my coat and left. There’s no way I could have worked there, and there’s no need to listen to someone who is being deliberately offensive. Be polite, but remove yourself from situations like that. Life is too short to listen to the you’re-going-to-hell lady.

Photo by jbcurio

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

7 Dumb Things To Say In Interviews

Kerry Scott — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:15:02 +0000

Somebody found my blog the other day by Googling “dumb things to say in interviews.”

Now, I’m not sure why this person was looking for this sort of guidance, but I aim to please…so here you go.

How much does this job pay? If this is the first question out of your mouth, it shouldn’t be. In general, you want to ask questions that are about how you would be successful in the position, not on what they can do for you. Save the what’s-in-it-for-me stuff for the offer stage. If you have reason to believe that the pay might be so low that you wouldn’t be interested in the job, there are better ways to handle this. Try asking a few more job-centric questions, and then saying something like, “This is awkward, but I want to ensure we’re on the same page before we move forward. My pay at XYZ Company was $X, and I’m looking to stay in that same range. Would I be able to do that in this position?” That way you’re not making it sound like pay is all you care about, and you’re acknowledging that asking at this early stage is a deviation from normal interview etiquette.
Do you cover Viagra? I’ve had people ask this (and questions about other very specific medications, medical conditions, etc.). First, you’re telling people more than they need to know about your health, which is never a good idea (they’re not supposed to use it against you, but they often do). Second, the interviewer doesn’t necessarily know what’s covered. If this is a big concern for you, ask for a copy of the Summary Plan Document (SPD) at the offer stage, so that you can evaluate the insurance coverage against your existing coverage. That way you can look for yourself, and you don’t have to reveal things about yourself that just don’t need to be shared.
Can you make the pay a little less so I am still eligible for [food stamps, subsidized insurance, take your pick]? There are people out there who actually ask their employers to fix things so that they can still get some sort of public assistance. These people suck. Don’t be one of them. The answer is always going to be no, because no one is going to stick their neck out to pull that kind of crap for you, and you’re waving a giant “DON’T HIRE ME—I CHEAT” sign at them when ask.
Are you single? On behalf of interviewers everywhere, let me assure you that we don’t want to go out with you. If we do, we have your number.
What does your company do? So, you don’t know how to Google then? Because there’s pretty much no excuse for not knowing a lot about the company before you come in. It’s 2009. We have the internet now. Look into it.
I can start immediately. If you have a job, you need to give two weeks’ notice. When you tell me you don’t plan to give your current employer that courtesy, I’ll assume you’re going to do the same to me.
No, I don’t have any questions. Really? You’re so uninterested in the job that you can’t think of a single thing to ask? Because I’m probably going to give this position to someone who is actually interested in knowing something about the job and/or the company. Just so you know.

Photo by aigarius

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

7 Ways You Can Use Your Phone to Screw Yourself Out of a Job Opportunity

Kerry Scott — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:55:03 +0000

This post originally appeared on January 26, 2009.

Music instead of ringing—Apparently, there’s this new thing where instead of hearing a ringing sound when you someone, you hear music, chosen by the owner of the phone. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that-but consider whether your choice of music is really representing you well. A friend of mine just called a candidate to set up an interview for a management position, and was treated to a song that mentioned the singer’s intent to go to a club and “spread a little love and spread a couple cheeks.” She called back twice to make sure she heard it right…and then she hung up and called another candidate instead.
Answering machine or voice mail greetings—Back when I started recruiting, most people didn’t have voice mail at home-just answering machines—and hardly anyone had a cell phone. As a result, I called people at home, and listened to long, long outgoing messages featuring their children singing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and doing little skits and all sorts of cutsie stuff. I love kids, and mine are adorable too, but they don’t belong on the answering machine (at least, not while you’re job hunting). More recently, as more people have cell phones and home phones with personal voice mail, the mailboxes are usually for one person rather than the family…but that doesn’t stop the stupid stuff. The whole pretend-you-really-answered-the-phone-and-can’t-hear-the-caller routine is not that funny to begin with, and it’s even less funny when you have 20 candidates to call in a day. Knock it off. Change your outgoing greeting to something reasonably professional (and short!), at least for the duration of your job search.
Kids, spouses, or roommates— I can think of two-count ‘em, TWO-people I’ve called in my entire career whose kids have done an exceptional job taking a message. I made sure to let the parents know when I spoke to them later. The rest, though…forget it. Teach them to let calls roll to voice mail or the machine unless they recognize the number on the caller ID. I’d much, much rather leave a message with a machine than try to get a 10-year-old to successfully find a pen and some paper, spell my name, my company name, and my complete phone number, and then remember to give you the message. Roommates can be even worse. I can’t count the number of roommates I’ve spoken to who have refused to take a message altogether, saying they were too busy or couldn’t find a pen or said “I’m not his secretary.” Even better are the ones who think you are the other woman or something, and ask you what the hell you want with their husband/boyfriend. Love those. Best of all are the ones who, upon hearing you’re with XYZ Company, think you’re selling something and hang up on you.
Television— It blows my mind when people leave the TV blaring when they’re on the phone with an employer. I’ve had people try to do this through entire phone interviews, and guess what? That sound travels better than you think. I can’t understand a word you’re saying, because all I can hear is the Dr. Phil theme song. Hit the MUTE button before you even pick up the phone. It is never okay to have the TV on during a business call.
Call Waiting—Honestly, unless you are waiting for a call that is truly life-or-death, don’t interrupt a call about a job. You’re telling the employer that you have better things do to than talk to them, and that’s usually not a good message to send. If you MUST take the other call, make sure you’ve really pressed the right button. I once had someone say, “Hang on, I’m talking to some bitch from XYZ company,” not realizing I was still on the line.
Taking calls while driving (or at the checkout counter, or getting your hair done)—Seriously, I’d much rather leave a message than compete for your attention with the other people you’re dealing with. You’re being rude to them AND to me. That’s just not cool. Just let it roll to voice mail until you’re someplace where you’re not in traffic and not talking to someone else.
Peeing—Wondering whether we can hear that through the phone? Yes. We can.

Photo by flattop341

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

I Hate Spunk.

Kerry Scott — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:55:38 +0000

I bought myself an iPod Touch a couple of weeks ago. This was a big splurge, but I figured I could use it to download and watch TV shows while on the treadmill at the gym. Since I am still mildly famous among my old high school friends for the lengths to which I would go to avoid gym class, anything that gets me off the couch is a good thing. I am not sporty.

So when my new toy came, I went on iTunes to see what they had. You know what they had? The Mary Tyler Moore Show. For you youngsters, that’s the greatest TV show ever in the history of TV. Seriously.

So, at the gym last Friday, I started with the very first episode. It’s the one with the scene where Mary interviews with Mr. Grant for the job at WJM-TV. On the one hand, it’s classic comedy, and I laughed out loud (and accidentally hit the stop button on the treadmill, because I am a dork). On the other hand, while I was only a zygote when this aired in the fall of 1970, I’m pretty sure there were actually interviews that pretty much went like this in those days.

So, when you’re on your next interview…be glad if the guy doesn’t offer you a drink and ask you why you’re not married. You’ve come a long way, baby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNyj4FV56JY

Photo by Mykl Roventine

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

4 Dumb Things People Do During Interviews

Kerry Scott — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:49:29 +0000

Photo by Christina Snyder

You know what a STAR question is, right?

It’s those interview questions where you’re supposed to give a:

S/T — Situation/Task

A — Action You Took

R — Result You Achieved

See, it spells out STAR. That’s so you (and the interviewer) remember what you’re supposed to do. Yeah, it’s a goofy little acronym. But this interview technique (or a close variation of it) is used by most big companies, and quite a few small ones as well. It’s part of behavior-based interviewing, which essentially works on the idea that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior…so interviewers want to know what you’ve done in the past, to understand whether you might be successful in the future. You need to know how to work with this type of question.

Some people just can’t work within this framework, and they manage to blow the interview by not being able to get through the questions effectively. Here are the four most common mistakes I’ve seen candidates make in this type of interview:

Not listening to the question. Interviewing can be nerve-racking. Everyone gets that. But if I’m repeatedly asking you to tell me about a time when you had to deal with interpersonal conflict, and you keep telling me about how you studied for the CPA exam, you’re telling me you’re not a good listener. That’s bad. Employers choose these questions up front to focus on the skills and traits they think are most important for this job. You need to give them what they want. Incidentally, if you can remember what the questions were, you’ll have pretty good insight into what they’re looking for in a candidate. That will help for subsequent interviews, and help you know what to reinforce when writing your thank-you notes.
Giving hypothetical answers. These types of interview questions always start with “Tell me about a time…” or “Describe a time…” or something like that. That means they’re looking for a specific example from your past. Don’t try to cheat, because trust me when I tell you that you will annoy the crap out of them in doing so. If I say, “Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a personality clash at work,” you should never say, “Oh, I would talk it out with them; I would do this and that and the other thing.” I don’t want to hear what you would do. I want to know what you did do. Everyone is perfect in hypothetical situations; I want to know about your real-life experience. If you can’t tell me about that, you either don’t have that experience or you’re not really listening. Now, there are times when you really don’t have the experience they’re asking about. It’s fine to say, “I’ve never actually done X, but here’s how I think I’d handle that.” That way, you’re letting them know that you heard and understood the question just fine, but you just don’t have an experience that matches what they’re asking about. It’s much better to admit you’ve never done something up front than to pretend you’re not really understanding the question.
Giving disorganized answers. The reason somebody invented that STAR acronym is so that interviewers and candidates could organize their answers in a succinct, meaningful way. Make sure you do that. Clearly describe the situation (I had a co-worker who was constantly playing her iPod on the stereo in the next cube, and she played ‘Poker Face’ over and over and over again). Then clearly describe the action you took (I went to her and told her that I sometimes found the music distracting, and I wondered if we could work out a solution that would work for both of us). Then describe the result (We agreed that since I’m in meetings most mornings, she’d play whatever she wanted then, and that in the afternoon she could only play “Poker Face” five times). It’s okay to pause and organize your thoughts before you begin to answer the question…anything to avoid a rambling mess.
Giving bad results. Sometimes people are so nervous in interviews that they don’t really think about their answers to questions. They just start talking. As a result, some candidates get to the “results” part of these questions, and either find that they have a lousy result (She played “Poker Face” 27 times between noon and 2:30 the next day, so I beat her to death with my stapler) or no result at all (My boss moved me to a new cube farm the next day, so I never saw her again, and as far as I know she is still playing “Poker Face” to an unsuspecting victim). It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how few people choose stories with outcomes that actually make them look good. Again, it’s totally fine to pause and think before you begin answering a question.

Mastering the art of answering these types of questions will put you way ahead of the pack in terms of interviewing. In fact, thinking of your career experience in terms of situations/actions/results is a good exercise for resume writing and networking too. The better you are at clearly and concisely describing why you’re fabulous, the more likely you are to convince someone else to hire you.

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon

4 Ways to Assess Your Cultural Fit for a Job

Kerry Scott — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:04:25 +0000

Photo by Graham

Last week I talked about why company culture matters in choosing an employer. In the comments, class factotum asked how to find out in advance what a company’s culture and quirks are, so that you don’t end up in the wrong job. Here are three techniques I use:

1. Ask. Every single person you meet in the interview process is a source of information, from the receptionist to the phone screener to the big boss. Ask them what they like (and hate) about working there. Ask them what time they go home at night. Ask them what it’s like around crunch time, how much vacation they took last year…whatever it is that’s really important to you in terms of assessing the culture. Some of the people you’ll meet with will be slick and have packaged answers, but you’ll be surprised how many will make candid remarks, because they aren’t expecting the question. Getting information from a variety of people helps you piece together the real picture, without the canned spiel or the filtered answers of the folks who are trained to give you the company line. Not all of it will be accurate or applicable, but you’ll start to see common themes, and that’s what really gives you a sense of what it’s going to be like to work for this company.

2. Google. One nice thing about the internet is that you can more or less find everything everyone’s ever said about a particular company. Sites like Glassdoor specialize in giving insider information on a variety of organizations. Industry message boards can also provide some insight, as well as the message boards on sites like Yahoo! Finance (check the board for a particular stock; there will be a message board associated with that stock, and that’s where employees go to complain). Take these tidbits with a HUGE grain of salt, though. In my experience, it’s mostly disgruntled employees who post stuff on the internet about a company, and you’re hearing only one side of the story (and usually an anonymous one at that). Happy employees rarely spend time on message boards writing about their happiness. Again, you’re really looking for common themes and tidbits that reinforce or contradict what you’re finding elsewhere.

3. Use your network. In my experience, networking is by far the best way to find out what you’re getting into when you consider taking a new job. In fact, I think it’s one of the most compelling reasons to ensure that you have a strong network. After all, not everyone you know will stick their neck out for you to help you get a job; only your closest friends and allies will do that. Most people, though, are delighted to give their opinion. Ask everyone you know about the company you’re considering. Even if they haven’t worked there, they may have friends, family members, neighbors, or other contacts who are in the know. They may also know things about the company’s reputation, good or bad, that you don’t. That’s important insight for you to have going in, and you won’t know if you don’t ask. I live in Milwaukee, which has a population of about 1.4 million in the metro area. That’s not New York City, but it’s not Gopher Prairie either…and I’ve been able to get the scoop on every employer I’ve had in the time I’ve lived here. I haven’t always listened, but I’ve always been told what to expect.

4. Check references. Social networking sites have made it much easier to find complete strangers who work for the company you’re interested in. As long as there’s not a cloud of confidentiality around the opening (like if you’re interviewing to replace someone who hasn’t been fired yet), you can contact them and ask what it’s like to work there. Look for employees on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook, and ask (nicely) if they’re willing to tell you a little bit about their experience. Again, most people are flattered to be asked for their opinion, and it’s a great way to connect with people who may be your colleagues soon. In fact, you might click with someone well enough that they can actually help you get the job as well.

Most people spend all of their job hunting energy finding job opportunities, and then getting the company to like them. That’s important too, but it’s just as important to know what sort of job you’re REALLY getting into. Putting in the effort up front to ensure a good fit helps make sure you don’t have to do this job hunting thing again anytime soon. That’s always a good investment.

Want to read this on your Kindle instead? Click here to subscribe.

Follow @ClueWagon