The Handshake (and Smile)

The first five minutes of an interview are vitally important as an employer is going to develop their first impression of you. When you have arrived at the office or designated meeting area, announce your arrival to the secretary and then quietly take a seat in the waiting room if offered one. While waiting, maintain good stature, ready to spring out of the chair at any moment, a pleasant and intelligent expression on your face (you don't want to look bored), and do not let your eyes wander all over. You can look covertly around the office, but try to curb your curiosity from leading you on a tour of the waiting room.

When the interviewer arrives, stand up to greet them with a "Hello, I am Mark Manning. It is a pleasure to meet you." Respond to their offering of a handshake with a firm one while looking them in the eye. Keep yourself turned to them and show your frankness. The handshake itself can show how confident and enthusiastic you are. Show in your face, hands, and body language that you are glad to meet them.

While a handshake may seem like a minor aspect of the interview process, the employer is seeking any and all cues that tell them what kind of person you are. Practice and be prepared to show your confidence, enthusiasm, and pleasure of meeting them.

Reference-http://www.careers.unsw.edu.au/careerEd/jobApplications/interviews/during.aspx#Handshake

Picture-http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/img/Bts01_LifeHandShakeHowToInterview.jpg

Where do Facebook and MySpace come in?

I just came across this article after I finished my last blog posting:

Facebook Welcomes Companies And Developers

As Facebook welcomes an open-platform strategy, more companies gain access to it. As it is, companies can access Facebook to look at your profile (the same goes for MySpace). I have heard of cases where employers check the pages and candidates are removed from the list of potential future employees. This is meant as a warning to be careful of what you broadcast for the world to see about yourself. There are privacy settings that you can use to guard yourself from being viewed by everyone. Regardless, ask yourself is it really something you want everyone to know or is it just something you do to be cool? Either way, it may get in the way of your job searching and remember that some day you are going to "grow up."

Dress for Success

I believe that one of the big questions you, reader, have before the interview is "What do I wear?" There are a few basic guidelines to help you know what to choose.

• Dress to fit the job you are interviewing
• Better to overdress
• If uncertain about business casual, you can wear something that can be easily converted. For the women a pair of slacks with a blouse and jacket can easily be toned down by slipping off the jacket.

I will never forget my experience of being told the event I was attending was business casual. I wore a blouse, sweater, and dress pants and felt as though I would be overdressed. When I arrived, I found out I was just right. While twill pants may be casual to some, in a corporate environment business casual is not as casual. Be aware of what would be normal dress and then just back off a little, not all the way down to jeans!

Forbes offers suggestions for what to wear to attain a traditional look at (http://www.forbes.com/business/2006/04/11/office-dress-codes-cx_sr_0411officedress.html).

For men:

Least Appropriate to Most Appropriate

• A button-down shirt
• Polished black shoes
• A blue, black or gray jacket
• Slacks that complement the jacket
• Conservative tie
• Matched socks

For women:

Least Appropriate to Most Appropriate

• A skirt to the knee, slacks and perhaps pantsuits
• Simple jewelry
• Just a hint of makeup
• Go easy on the perfume or skip it altogether
• Polished flats or moderate heels
• Sweaters
• Pantyhose may be the office standard

Click on men and women for reviews from different types of companies from accounting firms to hotel management about the above pictures. It helps give you an idea of what is appropriate for different industries.

As a last suggestion, make sure you "break in" your new clothes, especially shoes. My boss went
to an extended trade show where he was standing on cement for hours in new shoes. He was in extreme pain with each step he took by the end.

The Big Call

Let's assume you sent a resume that completely wowed the employer. They have now called you asking you to come in for an interview. (If talking to them on the phone, make sure you are standing up if possible and using gestures. You will sound more up-beat and enthusiastic.) In scheduling the interview, the employer will likely have some times in mind that would work for them. While it is best to try to fit your schedule to theirs, do not be afraid of asking for other options.

In my own experience, I was asked to come to two interviews right in the middle of two days during which I had four major exams. I explained my dilemma to the interviewers who were very helpful and gracious in working out another time for me. This helped me not only because I could focus time on exams when I needed to, but I was also able to make a better impression than if I would have been overwhelmed.

While in my example it was exams, maybe you have something else that already is tipping the scales for you without squeezing in an interview. Try to cut back on activities preceding the interview and make sure you get your rest before the interview. It is common sense that a rested and refreshed individual will perform better than a tired, worn out individual all other things being equal. If an interview is already scheduled but a conflict comes up, medical emergency, family death, etc., let the interviewer know immediately and tell them frankly what your reason is. There is no reason to make up an excuse, they are human and will understand. If they do not understand, maybe it is not somebody you would want to work for anyway.


Take a few minutes to think of some things that relax you and be ready to pull them out when it is time to interview! Now that you have scheduled the interview, its time to start thinking about apparel ... the topic for the next posting.

Resume guidance

This evening I would just like to share a few links. When overlooking the resume assignment that I will be doing for class soon, a suggested resource was The Owl at Purdue. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/631/01/ I am including links that are available under the "Navigation" and "Job Search Writing":

Academic Cover Letters
Action Verbs to Describe Skills, Jobs, and Accomplishments in Employment Documents
Audience Analysis
Cover Letters 1: Quick Tips
Cover Letters 2: Preparing to Write a Cover Letter
Cover Letters 3: Writing Your Cover Letter
Effective Workplace Writing
Job Skills Checklist
Letters Concerning Employment
Management Resumes
Model Letters for Various Purposes
Prioritizing Your Concerns for Effective Business Writing
Reference Sheets
Resume Design
Resumes 1: Introduction to Resumes
Resumes 2: Resume Sections
Resumes 3: When to Use Two Pages or More
Resumes 4: Scannable Resumes
Tailoring Employment Documents For a Specific Audience
Tips & Terms for the International Student's Job Search
Writing a Job Acceptance Letter
Writing the Curriculum Vitae
Writing the Personal Statement

I found this links to be valuable and hopefully they will be useful to you. I plan on addressing the actual interview in my next post.

Resumes

The Local Government Institute's website at http://www.lgi.org/ResumePrepTip.htm offered a suggested outline and list of questions that should be answered in a resume from Dynamite Resumes by Ronald and Caryl Rae Krannich.

1. Contact section: Who are you and how can you be reached?


2. Objective statement: What do you want to do?


3. Education section: What have you learned?


4. Experience/Employment section: What can you do? What have you done?


5. Professional activities and accomplishments: How have you been recognized?


6. Miscellaneous: What else do they want to know about you?"

Here is a sample resume from Google images with five key elements of a resume listed.

Readers of this blog may ask "Why a posting about resumes, I thought this was going to be about interviews?" My answer is quite simple. You will not have an interview to prepare for if you do not properly prepare a resume that catches the eye of an employer or recruiter.

When an interviewer, or recruiter in my position, is looking over resumes, if a few mistakes arise the candidate may be set aside immediately. After going to work Friday and sorting through the numerous resumes that are emailed every week, I recalled a few grotesque resume errors. For one thing, always remember to read over your resume before you send it in. Some mistakes over the years have included the following: one candidate misspelled his/her own name; another time the name at the header of the second page did not match the name on the front page of the resume. Apparently the candidate had used a friend's resume as a template and did not make all of the necessary changes. If you cannot even get your name correct on a resume, how can the rest of the information be trusted?

If you a serious about receiving a response from an employer, include all possible and relevant contact information in its complete form. What good is an address that does not include the city, state and zip code of the candidate? How will an employer call you back if there is not a phone number included?

I remember times of staring at resumes trying to find the candidate's current occupancy or position. Recruiters do not want to spend time hunting for this information, present it clearly and concisely. It is also important to list as your occupancy what your job truly is, which is not necessarily the title given to you. For instance, you may be a "Sales Manager" according to your company. However, if in actuality you do not manage people but rather are initiating sales, you are most likely a "Sales Representative". If you place "Sales Manager" as your title you will not be qualified for the position for those companies seeking a manager who will contact you and you will not be contacted for the position you are actually qualified for because from your resume it looks as though you are overqualified. This is clearly a lose-lose situation.

Resumes are your initial contact with prospective employers. Please do not make a poor showing, just because you want to get the resume sent off as soon as possible. Check it over, several times. It will be well worth your time!

Preparing, Part I

I have interviewed for full time job positions after college three times as well as for scholarships and two jobs in high school. In my research and working with a recruiter, there are a few main points that continually come up: be prepared, be professional, be enthusiastic, and answer questions directly. I came across a guide at the following web site: http://www.stylewizard.com/career/intguide.html. It offers suggestions of ways to prepare, act, and follow up an interview. Currently I am going to focus on preparation before interviews, specifically your own goals and researching the company.


On a personal level, goals that the candidate has for himself/herself needs to be considered. Questions that can be asked are: Am I open to relocation? Does the company's values and views support my own? Knowing what I do about the people who currently work there, would I be a good fit? Does the company and position offer me the potential for future advancement?


Before the interview it may be impossible to know the complete culture of the company, however, researching the company will provide a start. A candidate should gain as much knowledge as they can about the company from the company's website, and through recent news. Candidates should also be looking at the company's competitors. Researching competitors not only shows that you are aware of "what the other guys are doing" but you may also find that another company would be a better fit for you. In addition, think of questions you have about the company and where it is headed when you do your research. The interviewer will recognize that you are serious about the position as well as committed to learning.

This is just the beginning of the preparation phase and through my research I will continue to add tips for the preparation.

The Beginning

I begin my first research blog, and first blog, today. I plan to research how candidates should behave and interact with recruiters when looking for jobs. Working for a recruiter for the past two years, many instances have arisen when a candidate did or did not take the appropriate measures to secure a job. Researching more on the interviewing process will provide me with more knowledge so that I am better equipped to advise and help anyone who is in the interview process. It is my intention that this research blog will be a great benefit to me in my future as well as anyone who follows it along the way.