Yhub.blogspot.com: Tips and Tricks

Showing posts with label Tips and Tricks. Show all posts

50 Worst of the Worst (and Most Common) Job Interview Mistakes

yhub team On

You may have heard the horror stories--job hunters who take phone calls or text during an interview, or bring out a sandwich and start chomping, or brush their hair, or worse. You wouldn't do any of those things, would you? Of course not.

But there are tons of other job interview no-no's you may not have thought of. Or that you've forgotten. The job hunting trail is long and arduous, and a little refresher course can't hurt. So for your edification and enjoyment, here are 50 (yes, 50!) of the worst and most common job interview mistakes:

1. Arriving late.

2. Arriving too early.

3. Lighting up a cigarette, or smelling like a cigarette.

4. Bad-mouthing your last boss.

5. Lying about your skills/experience/knowledge.

6. Wearing the wrong (for this workplace!) clothes.

7. Forgetting the name of the person you're interviewing with.

8. Wearing a ton of perfume or aftershave.

9. Wearing sunglasses.

10. Wearing a Bluetooth earpiece.

11. Failing to research the employer in advance.

12. Failing to demonstrate enthusiasm.

13. Inquiring about benefits too soon.

14. Talking about salary requirements too soon.

15. Being unable to explain how your strengths and abilities apply to the job in question.

16. Failing to make a strong case for why you are the best person for this job.

17. Forgetting to bring a copy of your resume and/or portfolio.

18. Failing to remember what you wrote on your own resume.

19. Asking too many questions.

20. Asking no questions at all.

21. Being unprepared to answer the standard questions.

22. Failing to listen carefully to what the interviewer is saying.

23. Talking more than half the time.

24. Interrupting your interviewer.

25. Neglecting to match the communication style of your interviewer.

26. Yawning.

27. Slouching.

28. Bringing along a friend, or your mother.

29. Chewing gum, tobacco, your pen, your hair.

30. Laughing, giggling, whistling, humming, lip-smacking.

31. Saying "you know," "like," "I guess," and "um."

32. Name-dropping or bragging or sounding like a know-it-all.

33. Asking to use the bathroom.

34. Being falsely or exaggeratedly modest.

35. Shaking hands too weakly, or too firmly.

36. Failing to make eye contact (or making continuous eye contact).

37. Taking a seat before your interviewer does.

38. Becoming angry or defensive.

39. Complaining that you were kept waiting.

40. Complaining about anything!

41. Speaking rudely to the receptionist.

42. Letting your nervousness show.

43. Overexplaining why you lost your last job.

44. Being too familiar and jokey.

45. Sounding desperate.

46. Checking the time.

47. Oversharing.

48. Sounding rehearsed.

49. Leaving your cell phone on.

50. Failing to ask for the job.

ADD COMMENTS I FULL STORY

7 Things Your Boss Should Never Say to You

yhub team On

1. “I pay your salary. You have to do what I say.” Have you not heard? It’s the 21st century. Threats and power plays just do not cut it anymore (and they were always a terrible way to manage). Yes, you pay people’s salaries but that doesn’t mean you’re their lord and master. You are their leader, however. Leaders lead by inspiring, teaching, encouraging, and, yes, serving their employees. Good leaders never need to threaten. So keep your word, set a good example, praise in public, criticize in private, respect your employees’ capabilities, give credit where credit is due, learn to delegate, and when you ask for feedback don’t forget to respond to it. (Another sentence to be avoided: “Do what I say, not what I do.”)

2. “I don’t want to listen to your complaints.” Hey, boss, you have this backwards. You do want to listen to employees’ complaints. That’s part of your job. You should be actively seeking feedback, even negative feedback. It may be annoying, even painful, but that’s why you get the big bucks. Complaints point to where your processes and practices need improvement. And even if a problem absolutely can’t be helped, allowing your employees to vent can go a long way toward restoring morale and building loyalty.

3. “I was here on Saturday afternoon. Where were you?” This kind of “subtle” pressure to work 24/7 is a good way to burn out your employees. You won’t get that much more productivity out of them, and you will destroy morale. You may choose to work seven days a week. That’s your call. But your employees shouldn’t have to. If you observe that they are working way more than their job descriptions call for, consider that maybe it’s because you’re overloading them. Look for ways to fix this problem.

4. “Isn’t your performance review coming up soon?” Maybe you’re trying to motivate an employee to do a better job. Maybe this is just a ham-handed way to remind underlings of who has the power. Who knows. Either way, a statement like this is not only tacky and passive-aggressive, it’s ineffective. If you really want to motivate people, consider giving them a stake in the success of your enterprise. Show employees you value them. Let them know what they have to gain by doing a good job. The results may surprise you.

5. “We’ve always done it this way.” Want to crush your employees’ initiative? This is a good way. News flash: Your employees may actually have a pretty good idea of how to do their jobs. Maybe they know even more than you. Your job as boss is to encourage them to have the energy and motivation to be innovative. In fact, employees who come up with better ways to do things should be celebrated and rewarded. (Hint: Cash is nice.)

6. “We need to cut costs” (at the same time you are, say, redecorating your office). Nothing breeds resentment more than asking employees to tighten their belts while you, to their eyes, are living it up. Even if the office redecoration can be totally justified in business terms, or the budget for it was a gift from your uncle, it still looks hypocritical and is demoralizing. Being sensitive to other people’s feelings is good karma. Leading by example is the best way to lead.

7. “You should work better.” Managers need to communication expectations clearly, to give employees the tools they need to do a good job, to set reasonable deadlines, and to offer help if needed. When giving instructions, ask if they understand your instructions. Don’t assume. You may not be the stellar communicator you think you are. If your employees are making mistakes, or not performing up to par, consider that maybe it’s because you’re giving them vague instructions like “you should work better.”

The bottom line is that in the workplace respect, a little tact, and a good attitude go both ways.

ADD COMMENTS I FULL STORY

Should You Follow Up the Interview With a Phone Call?

yhub team On

had an interview a week ago and was told they would be calling people this week to schedule second interviews. I'm comfortable with this being enough time to wait to follow up, but am wondering where protocol falls for using E-mail versus calling the person directly. I feel like E-mail makes it easier on both of us, but I don't want to come across unprofessional if that is something not to be done.

Please don't call. I know there are psycho recruiters out there who set up all sorts of rules and if you don't guess them correctly you won't get the job. Undoubtedly, more than a couple have made it one of their rules that you must "show initiative" by calling. A pox on their heads. The rest of us have too much to do.

Phone calls for quick questions take up an inordinate amount of time. First, if you miss the phone call you have to listen to the voice mail. And I don't know about the people who call you, but the people who call me tend to ramble on, very slowly, and then at the end say their phone number so fast that I have to listen to it three times just to figure out the phone number. Then, you have to find the answer to the question, call, and hope you get a live human. (And, out of curiosity, why is that if I call someone back within five minutes of their voice mail they are never available? Do they call and then leave for Tahiti? I don't understand this.)

Now, once you've got the person on the phone, you have to do all the social niceties. "Hi, this is Jane Doe from Acme Corp, returning John Smith's call. Is Mr. Smith available?" Bah. It takes time. And both hiring managers and recruiters are busy. It's much faster to respond to an E-mail.

So, do send an E-mail. A polite E-mail. And don't get all freaked out if the person doesn't respond immediately. That's the beauty of E-mail. You E-mail me when it's convenient for you, and I'll respond when it's convenient for me.

Asking about the status of a second interview is a question that can be answered in a couple of lines. If the recruiter (or hiring manager) has more questions, they can call you up and ask them. It's all very efficient.

And as for those recruiters or hiring managers who think you're a failure if you don't use the telephone, well, who wants to work with someone like that in the first place?

ADD COMMENTS I FULL STORY

How to Answer 10 Tricky Interview Questions

yhub team On

Does it seem as though some job interview questions are designed to trip you up?

It should, because they are. Here are 10 of the trickiest tricky questions you might be asked at a job interview, with ideas on how to handle them:

1. “Tell me about yourself.”

DO: Talk about the ways that what you know and what you can do are perfectly suited to this job.
DON’T: Tell the interviewer your life story.

2. “Tell me something bad you’ve heard about our company.”

DO: You wouldn’t apply for a job at a company you disapproved of, would you? So you should be able to honestly answer that you haven’t heard anything negative about this place.
DON’T: Repeat gossip you might have heard.

3. “Why should I hire you?”

DO: Impress your interviewer with how much you know about the company’s requirements and then describe how you are the best person to meet those requirements.
DON’T: Get tripped up by a lack of prior research.

4. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

DO: Talk about how your specific abilities, training, and experience will enable you to smoothly integrate with this company.
DON’T: Say that you have no idea.

5. “How would you react if I told you your interview so far was terrible?”

DO: Recognize that this is a test to see if you get flustered. Say, mildly, that you would ask for reasons why.
DON’T: Freak out. Remember, the interviewer said “if.”

6. “What’s the last book you read?”

DO: Mention a book that reflects well on you. Choose something by a reputable author that your interviewer has probably heard of.
DON’T: Name a book you haven’t actually read.

7. “Can you work under pressure?”

DO: Say that of course you can, and then relate a brief story about a time you did.
DON’T: Just say, "Yes I can." Provide a specific example.

8. “Who’s your hero?”

DO: Name a person who has inspired you and then describe specifically how this inspiration relates to your work.
DON’T: Get caught off-guard by what should really be a softball question. Come prepared with a good answer.

9. “Have you ever considered starting your own business?”

DO: Talk about how you are happiest and do your best work in a company that is amazingly similar to the one you’re applying at.
DON’T: Go on and on about how you’d love to be your own boss one day.

10. “If you won the lottery, would you still work?”

DO: Be honest and say you’d be thrilled to win the lottery; then add that even if you did you’d still seek out satisfying work, because work is what makes people happy.
DON’T: Say that you’d never work again (too honest) or that you’d just work for free (too BS-y).

ADD COMMENTS I FULL STORY