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Slide 1: Give your job hunting the boost it needs! http://www.helpmelandthatjob.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How to Ace That Interview – Tips and Techniques That Win You the Job The Elephant in the Room - The Uncomfortable Questions What happens when you have an incident that you would rather strike off your resume? such as a conflict with an employer?, which was why you got fired from your last job. Don’t try to hide it, embracing it shows confidence and ownership of responsibility. Sweeping it under the rug only raises more questions which only to be answered by the disgruntled exemployer anyway when the interviewer talks calls them to dig a little deeper. Instead admit to it, be honest about it and the most important thing of all is to explain how you grew from it. How it made you a better person because of it. Employers love a redemption story and will be more willing to take a chance on you than if you were to hide it from plain sight. Remember, the truth always comes out in the end, just make sure you have your say and there are always two sides to every story so do it with grace. Don’t play yourself to be the victim, tell them what you learned, how you grew and progressed and overcame and do it all WITHOUT putting down the exemployer. This is important because even though the person who’s interviewing you may not be them, I can promise you more than you realize, they’re looking at you through the same eyes. If you put down your ex-employer, they’re seeing themselves through your eyes and are thinking that if you ever move on for reasons that are less than cordial; will YOU do the same to them? I remember when I left an earlier job of mine because my employer was incompetent and blamed her shortcomings on all of us staff in order to make herself look good once wage appraisal time came around, I left because of the office politics, she would not allow us to grow and by the end of it, I was unhappy. I needed a new challenge and a job where my employer would be open to my ideas and improvements, rather than be dismissive about it. After speaking to a colleague about being honest and telling the next person interviewing me everything, I learned a valuable lesson. As she put it so beautifully and eloquently and no doubt these words will be burned onto your brain too…”DON’T PUKE ON YOURSELF!” I know she cared about me and only wanted the best but she was right. How you conduct yourself, and even though you’re in the right, speaking ill of your last employer only reflects poorly on you. Doing so
Slide 2: could shoot you in the butt making those interviewing you think twice about bringing you onboard. They wonder if they want to hire someone who is capable of the same and who could damage their reputation long after you’ve moved onto the next job position. So keep positive and your attitude will pay off. Just to recap, I asked one of my old colleagues about that boss and she was encouraged to leave not long after me. Needless to say having very little staff left to blame your shortcomings on only leaves the finger firmly pointed back at yourself, and ultimately being accountable for your own mistakes. Let’s just say there was no one left to blame. Karma baby. When explaining such situations, only go into as much detail as they ask. Don’t give away the farm unless you haven’t completely answered the question and the employer is probing further and as the song says “accentuate the positive”, “eliminate the negative” and the rest will just kind of fall into place. Other issues may be a gap in your work history, perhaps because of a criminal incident. Maybe you were a stay at home parent raising a child? Again, just fess up and be honest. What was your misdemeanor? What did you learn? how did it make you a better person or a more productive member of society? Something employers are interested in is if there was ever a situation where your ethics may have been challenged and what was the outcome? Employers use these questions as flags, if an interviewee says they were never ethically challenged then it sends up a red flag to the employer. Unless you’re perfect then of course you may have never been challenged in this respect. But for the majority of us mere mortals, it’s best to admit it. They’re not so much interested in the issue itself but rather how you dealt with it. What was the outcome? Of course if you haven’t been challenged in this respect, then by all means mention it; don’t feel pressured to create a scenario for the sake of admitting something. Remember, always be honest. If you were a stay at home parent which is an incredibly self-less and honorable thing to be and more credit should be given to those taking up this challenge, you may have gaps in your work history but what did being a full time parent teach you? Believe it or not but being a parent has workplace applications too such as time management, conflict resolution, working with sometimes difficult individuals, being eternally creative and thinking fast on your feet, planning, budgeting. If you think a little outside the box you can easily show how real world child rearing has its place in the workforce. Weaknesses Employers want to know firsthand what your weaknesses are, think of some things that won’t let you down or go against you. If you have weaknesses of concern, think of ways you’re correcting this or ways
Slide 3: that you’ve fixed this issue in the past. This lets your employer know you’re a real person because if no one can spot flaws in themselves then you must be perfect, and let’s face it no one is perfect. Case in point, I once remember watching a documentary about what made a great comedian; it wasn’t the most attractive people or the ones that were perfect and couldn’t poke fun at themselves. If you look throughout the ages, the comedians that made the most memorable long-lasting impressions were those who were inherently flawed and it was because it made them real and we could see ourselves in them, this is along a similar vein, that’s not to say that you go on a fault finding mission and talk yourself right out of the job, what I’m saying is to be selective about what you decide to share, because they will bring it up, practice now and at least be prepared for it. No employer expects you to be perfect. They want to know what makes you tick and if you avoid being honest then they miss the chance to get to know you and it could cost you the job, for goodness sakes they wanted to hear from you because you are on the shortlist from a ton of other competing candidates. You’ve made it this far, trust me, they want to hear from you. They’re trying to size you up on how you can fit into their corporation. One time I was thrown that question and within a second I replied “chocolate”, the employer laughed, yes I say employer because he became mine 2 days later. He found it humorous enough to break the ice for me to say that I sometimes try to do too much but I now know how to better allocate my time so that I’m pacing myself. He appreciated my honest answer, it made me real and I addressed how I dealt with the issue so that it was no longer a weakness. The same goes for the opposite, be honest but don’t shoot yourself in the foot by confessing everything. Be selective in what you share, give your shortcomings but how you dealt with them. This shows character and builds trust and respect that you not only admitted that you have weakness but that you were aware of it and progressed past it. Give your job hunting the boost it needs! http://www.helpmelandthatjob.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------