Pursuit of Flute

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How to fail your next interview

Interviewing is hard – probably even harder than that first date – because you can survive without a boyfriend <3
But you are going to be hungry without that paycheck! Someone else that you should not leave hungry is the interviewer. The best way to fail your interview is to leave your interviewers hungry. (how am I in control of the interviewer’s stomach? read on.)

And one thing the world could use less of is hungry people.

In my experience the most common reason a candidate bombs an interview is because they never answered the questions! Most interviews you will come across are behavior style interviews. This means we want to know how you have behaved in the past, since the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

This means I need you to tell me about specific instances in your past not generalities or processes.

Not providing this information leaves the interviewers (hiring manager) hungry for more information and you are the only one who can provide that sustenance.

One way to set your self up for success in this type of interview is to know and practice the S.T.A.R. Method

Situation: give an example of a situation you were involved in that resulted in a positive outcome

Task: describe the tasks involved in that situation

Action: talk about the various actions involved in the situation’s task

Results: what results directly followed because of your actions

If you follow this structure when answering behavioral interview questions not only will you be answering the questions but you are more likely to be clear and concise in your response.

Make your answers just as beefy

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Sound Smart

Everyone knows (or has been told) that impressions matter . . . in the first few seconds of an interview you can make a lasting impression on a hiring manager – but how do you even get to that point?

Answer – Probably not with a voice mail greeting that announces how busy you are or with an email address that proclaims your sexiness/witt.

This will be a quick post because there isn’t much more to say than be self-aware.

When I was living with my parents my dad would always say to me:
“Be aware of the world around you.”
I had no idea how important this — at the time annoying phrase — would be to my life.

If I call you and your voice mail greeting says “I’m very busy and may be spending my time feeding hungry children, dining with the queen of England or learning to ballroom dance with my grandma” then I am throwing up a big red flag and imagining how pompous you may possibly act around people you know well.

Or better yet, telling me that you know about the company I work for, then proceeding to tell me that you have made the most money this past year than you will ever be able to make at your current employer (why you are looking for a new job) and then wrapping up with the fact that you don’t know much about my company’s business… I’m left confused and contemplating your lack of communication skills.

Please stop sending me your resume from hottiegotattie@sass.com

Be self-aware, know your audience and keep your hubris in check

Keep it in check

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Cuddly Haiku

Cuddly — HR — Haiku

The myth it is true;
HR staff is cozy too;
tame kittens love us.

Muse for Haiku

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Tips to turn your Internship into a Full Time Position

Recently I had the opportunity to work with some amazing HR professionals in the West Michigan Area to put together the: 2nd Annual West Michigan Intern Olympics

This event was a huge success and received some press time that gave me a topic I wanted to post about!
(first time in 4 months…)

During our morning news coverage by Grand Rapids’ Fox 17 Morning Show I was asked, based on my experience, to give some tips on how to turn an internship into a full time job.

You can check out my news clip here

Now for the tips:

1. Turn around the economy (ok.. no that is not really a tip … but it would probably help)

Let’s try this again:

1. Make good use of social networking
- Get your name out there and brand yourself – there are so many opportunities
for this and it really does stand out.

2. Keep in contact
- Just because your internship is over doesn’t mean you should cut off all ties
with your previous employer! It is the opposite – you need to work harder to
keep yourself fresh in the minds of your supervisor and the Staffing Department.

3. Make your goals known to people at your company and your network
- If you don’t tell someone they will not know. Just because they should know doesn’t
mean they do.

4. Your internship is your interview
- If you do not put all your energy and enthusiasm into your internship then kiss that
offer letter goodbye. You cannot make up 3 months of awful in a 30 minute interview.

Love your Internship!

I would love to hear what other tips have worked for people in their internship to full time job experience!