Whether you’re a recent college graduate looking for your first job in your chosen career, or a teenager just looking to make some money, the thought of your first interview can be intimidating, if not downright terrifying! But it doesn’t have to be this way. Much of the fear of first interviews comes from the …
Introduction to Final Interviews A ‘Final Interview’ is just what the name implies. It’s the last interview given for a particular position. A hiring decision will be made after the final interview round. If you’ve made it to the final interview, congratulations! Your hard work in preparing for all the interviews has paid …
Behavioral interviews are very popular in today’s job market. Knowing how to handle them and how to avoid mistakes might just be the difference between getting passed over and getting the job you want. While It’s unusual for every question in a job interview to be a behavioral question, you will likely encounter at least …
One of the things I strongly advise job applicants is that you should come to any interview prepared with several relevant questions to ask. This shows you are serious about the job and took the time to prepare for that specific interview. Some questions are best asked in the first interview. For example, “What do …
Why should you even worry about how long your answers are? Isn’t the point to give the most details possible so that the interviewers will think you know what you’re talking about? This may look reasonable at first glance, but let me tell you a story. I once put together an interview panel for a …
Actually, I’ll be talking about two strategies for acing your job interview. While there are many moving parts to properly and thoroughly preparing for a job interview, I’m going to be talking about only two in this post. The surprising thing about this strategy is that these two aspects of preparing for a job interview …
Well, you did it! You made it past the first interview round and were invited back for a second interview and you’re feeling like the job is in the bag. Not so fast. A hiring decision isn’t usually made after the second round of interviews. In my experience as a Hiring Manager, more than half …
As you can see by simply looking around you in a public place, tattoos have become common. Few people give them a second thought, although this wasn’t always the case. Tattoos were originally associated with gangs, bikers, drugs, and prison. In fact, the link between tattoos, gangs, and prison is still strong in many people’s …
When I give job interview advice as a Hiring Manager, I find that many people are confused by the term “soft skills”. What exactly are soft skills and how do they differ from “hard skills”, which is another term that can be confusing. Soft Skills Versus Hard Skills Hard skills are those skills that are …
While It’s difficult to tell if any job interview went well, it’s particularly difficult for a phone interview. Unlike an in-person interview, where you can use facial expressions and body language to give you at least some inkling as to if the interview went well, all you have for a phone interview is the words …
If you’ve been invited back for a second interview, then congratulations! Of the hundreds of candidates I’ve interviewed over the years, I estimate that only about 25% got a second interview. Of course, the mileage may vary based on the industry and state of the economy, but that’s been my experience. Now that you’ve been …
I’ve posted advice on interview attire more than once, but it’s been directed at your first interview. Now let’s talk a bit about when you did well (based partly on how you were dressed, of course) enough in your first interview to be invited back for a second one. Should you dress differently than you …
First off, I’ll say that these common interview questions are the ones most likely to be asked in your first interview. They are not the common ones for either a second interview or a management position interview. I’ll cover those in other posts. There are dozens of fairly common questions you may be asked. I’m …
Almost all Hiring Managers, myself included, will tell you that not only is it okay to take notes during your interview, but it’s also encouraged. It even looks bad if you don’t! People are always flattered when you think something they said was important enough to write down and Hiring Managers are no different. We’re …
Actually, I believe the question should be “Should I wear jeans to a job interview?” I won’t keep you in suspense as to what my answer, as a Hiring Manager, is to this question: no, you should never wear jeans to a job interview. Now, let’s expound on that a bit. Many years ago, the …